


Language Barriers

by nakadoo



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3556412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakadoo/pseuds/nakadoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Shizuo discovers that the Russian language is more attractive than it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I love you?

“I’d really love to stay and play with you more, but I can’t. So sorry, Shizu-chan! Люблю тебя!”

Shizuo lets out a growl and before he even really thinks about it, his hands are crumpling around the familiar weight of a conveniently placed vending machine, hurling the innocent object at the retreating figure of none other than Orihara Izaya himself. But the damned informant is just too fast a moving target and though the vending machine made perfect line towards Izaya, it missed its mark as the flea made a graceful leap to the right before disappearing completely from Shizuo’s line of sight.

He can feel his blood boiling in his veins and swears all he can see is red, and he almost doesn’t snap out of his murderous daze even as a hand is waving in front of his face. It takes him a few seconds that feel like hours really, to calm down and instantly his hands reach for his pocket for a smoke.

“Ah, he really gets you mad, huh,” Tom speaks as he simultaneously lets out a sigh of relief. “Honestly, it’s like you’re a bomb and he’s a fire.”

“Tch,” Shizuo replies, tossing his now broken cigarette onto the ground before pulling out another one that’s slightly bent but it’s better than nothing. “I’ll kill him, I really will,” he mumbles out, and he barely notices as Vorona joins their duo.

“It was the flea, affirmative? Negative?” She asks as she joined them, her gaze darting from Tom’s face to Shizuo’s. When Shizuo nods his head she makes a mental reminder that the face of Orihara Izaya equates to _Pest_. “If it is in Shizuo-senpai’s will, I may deal the fatal strike; discovery of evidence is nil.”

Tom let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing at his face almost tiredly while Shizuo contemplated his kohai’s statement.

“Ah, you don’t need to do that for me,” he replies, the anger that was built up in him slowly dissipating as he understood what she was trying to convey. “You don’t have to get yourself involved with scum like him. It would be best if you just avoided him; I’ll take care of it” he replies in a way that sounded very reassuring, considering that he was talking about murdering someone.

Vorona gave one firm nod, though she still thought that she would execute her plan if the situation called for it. “Confirmatory,” she replied quietly.

The trio of debt collectors continued with their work after Shizuo had finished off his cigarette, but the blond was still upset over the fact that he had seen Izaya, and because of the fact that the air still stank of lies and fleas. He grit his teeth in annoyance, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he tried to ignore the aggravating man trying to wheedle his way out of paying them.

“What the fuck does that even mean?” he muttered quietly, mostly to himself but his muttering didn’t go unnoticed by Vorona.

As Tom tried to work his magic with words, Vorona turned her attention to Shizuo in mild curiosity. “Fuck has many meanings: noun, verb, manifestation. Most commonly used when speaking of coital circumstances and as an expression of aggression and or frustration,” she explained as best as she could. “I have perhaps misinterpreted your understanding of the word.”

“Ah, no that’s not what I meant,” Shizuo said with slightly wide eyes at the very straightforward meaning of fuck. He gave a glare at the man in front of Tom, who was still trying his very best to give Tom his potted cactus as a means of payment.

“What did senpai mean?” Vorona asked once more, looking up at the blond with childlike curiosity on her face.

“ _Loobleeoo tebyah_ ,” he struggled to say as his brows knitted together in confused frustration. Ever since their high school days Izaya would shout those words to him; he had always assumed that it was some sort of insult and also a form of Izaya bragging off at the fact that he could speak more languages than Japanese. What an asshole.

Vorona gave him an incredulous look as she spoke, uncertain as to why Shizuo would say something rather intimate out of the blue. "I was negligent in regards to Shizuo-senpai's cognizance in Russian vocabulary. I am impressed, yes."

This time, it was Shizuo who gave her a curious look. “Ah? Russian?”

“Da, is Russian,” she replied with another nod. “You are speaking words of my native tongue, however you know not what it means?”

Shizuo gave her a hesitant nod, even as he calmly picked up the man in front of Tom by the collar of his shirt. “The flea keeps saying it, probably just to piss me off,” he explained, completely ignoring the now sobbing man as he begged to be spared.

“люблю тебя,” Vorona repeated in a much nicer sounding accent. “Basically I love you,” she informed the older blond.

Tom paused, tilting his head to the side as a twinge of happiness ran through him. He suspected that Vorona liked Shizuo, but he never knew that she would confess to him so quickly. With an amiable grin, he turns his attention back to the man in debt and tries to talk him into paying them back but he can’t wipe the smile of his face. It honestly makes him look more threatening than he intends to be.

Shizuo on the other hand blushed as soon as he heard those words. He’s never had someone confess to him so casually and straightforward, and he was too at a loss to reply to her confession.

Vorona raised her eyebrows in confusion at both of her companion’s reactions, and decided to repeat what she had just said for clarification. “Shizuo-senpai, люблю тебя means I love you.”

“Oh, of course,” Shizuo replied like it was obvious and he let go of the man who nearly peed himself. “ _Loobleeoo tebyah_ ,” he repeats. “It means I love you, of course.”

“Wait, _**what.**_ ”


	2. Learning

Izaya first stumbled upon the Russian language when he was fourteen; he had been on his way home when the voice of a rather large man caught his attention. The man was speaking in broken Japanese, only a few key words from him could be understood. Ever curious, Izaya had taken a detour to a restaurant he’s never taken notice of before “Russian Sushi.”

“Oh, Wel-come! Buy Sushi! Very delicious!” The dark skinned man greeted him instantaneously, and while other pedestrians seemed wary and apprehensive of the towering height of the man, Izaya smiled up at him in a very amiable way as said man handed him a flier.

“Where are you from?” Izaya asked as soon as he pocketed the flier. “Ah, I guess it should be obvious though. Russia?”

“Yes, yes. You are correct. Я больше не хочу видеть кровопролитие моих товарищей,” (I no longer wish to see the bloodshed of my comrades) he replied and though he had a genuine look of happiness in his smile, Izaya felt that there was some lingering sadness behind it. “Is much nicer in Japan. Very friendly people,” the man added at Izaya’s questioning look. “Business is also better.”

It was like magic to hear that man speak, Izaya thought to himself. While he was already pretty good at speaking in English, he had never thought it to be as special as what he had just heard from the tall Russian in front of him. He smiled, extending his hand “I’m Izaya Orihara,” he introduced with a smile and as the man took his hand in a firm grip, the boy had already decided that he was going to learn to speak in this foreign tongue.

Simon was actually quite fond of the young boy who came nearly every day for a lesson in Russian; while he was more inclined to be teaching martial arts and self-defense, he found this new change of pace refreshing and enjoyable and much more peaceful. The fact that Izaya’s eyes lit up in childlike glee whenever they managed short conversations in Russian was enough of a reward for him.

In the present times, however, Simon wonders if it had been a good idea to have been the stepping-stone to Izaya’s embrace to the Russian language.

“Yo, Simon!” Izaya greeted, snapping him out of his reminiscence of the past when Izaya was much more innocent. “You’re looking a little funny today, did something interesting happen?” he asked, hands shoved into his pockets as he rolled his body weight on the heels of his feet.

Simon looked down at the boy he half-raised, still looking like the child he was years ago when they first met. “Oh, many things,” he indulged in him with a smile. “Many customers today. How you say, Если бы не закон, не было бы и преступника” (the more laws, the more offenders) and upon those words, the same gleam from many years ago was once more shining bright in Izaya’s eyes. Simon smiled to match that brightness.

“How unfortunate,” Izaya replied conversationally with a meek looking grin on his face. “I’m sure that you’ve dealt with them correctly, as you always do,” he said with a lilt in his voice and a skip in his step as he entered Russian Sushi.

Simon watched his back disappear beyond the doors, his happy voice greeting Dennis and asking for the usual. With a heavy sigh he went back to work, wondering what life would have been like if Izaya Orihara had decided to stay innocent and normal. 

“Если бы молодость знала, если бы старость могла…” (Youth is wasted on the young).

-=-

“ _Tee topoi_ ,” Shizuo told Vorona.

They were done with work by this time, spending time together at one of their favorite cafés. It was Vorona who requested his accompaniment and Shizuo was not about to let down an offer for a parfait. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was for their conversation to lead to the topic of which he hated to speak about the most.

Vorona nodded in understanding before taking a spoonful of her chocolate parfait. “Ты тупой,” she echoed yet again in a much better sounding way. “He was calling you stupid,” she informed him, watching the older blond as his browns furrowed in his usual annoyance.

“That’s to be expected,” he grunted out, taking a large spoonful from his own strawberry parfait.

They had been spending the last fifteen minutes trying to make sense of Izaya Orihara, Shizuo struggling to remember all the small Russian phrases directed at him while Vorona effortlessly translated for him. Most of what he had learned today were insults, but the fact still remained that Izaya’s favorite thing to say to him is apparently “I love you.”

Shizuo let out a defeated sigh. His brain was starting to hurt in the effort it took him to remember whatever it was Izaya was saying to him. He could not even begin to fathom why Izaya would say anything other than an insult, and the only logical reason that Shizuo could think of is that Izaya was just messing with him once more.

But if Izaya wanted to tease him by using false admissions of love, why would he bother to speak it in a language Shizuo wouldn’t be able to understand? Was it because he wanted to show off the fact that he could speak Russian? Or is it because, joking or not, saying it out loud in Japanese would have caused too much trouble for the both of them?

Another sigh escaped his lips but at that very same moment Vorona was pushing her parfait towards him. He raised an eyebrow at her. “You can’t finish it?” he asked, almost like he was speaking to a child.

Vorona shook her head. “Shizuo-senpai looks distraught, it is an unappealing look to your face,” she replied with one of her usual sharp nods. “It is peace offering. As they say, lighten up.”

Shizuo scoffed at that, a warmhearted smile gracing his face. “Ah, thank you. But really, as your senpai I should be the one helping you when you’re in trouble.”

The Russian’s lips twitched in a small smile at Shizuo’s happy face, thinking critically that he is much more attractive when he’s happy rather than when he’s angry or upset. However, she cannot deny either that his angry look is appealing to her as well. “I’m in no need of assistance. My troubles that I cannot handle are non-existent. Shizuo-senpai’s backing is not needed.” And before Shizuo could give her that kicked puppy look that he himself wasn’t aware he was capable of, she added very quickly “however I will seek support from senpai if I need it.”

His smile coming back twofold, Shizuo reached over and patted the top of Vorona’s head in an appreciative gesture. “I’d like that,” he replied thankfully, and they continued their time together in favorable silence.

Tom, who was there the entire time, felt completely left out and very much like a third wheel. Why they insisted he come along, he wasn’t too sure, but the fact that they invited him to join them anyways was something that he appreciated. It was nice to have kohais who wanted to involve you, and even though he knows that the two of them have trouble communicating their feelings properly, he knows that this was their way of showing him that they liked him.

Friendship is such a wonderful thing.

And friendships can also lead you to do painfully dangerous things.

Tom had brought his cup of coffee to his lips, only to splutter out whatever got into his mouth the moment a certain someone had caught his attention. This action of course gained the attention of not only his two kohais, but several other people inside the café. 

He coughed and waved his hand dismissively at Shizuo’s concern, quickly standing up as he thought of an excuse. “Oops! That was careless,” he said in his usual way, but his smile was a little strained and he was glad that Vorona had caught the stiffness in his movements. 

He gave a very quick glance out the window and he was glad that Vorona’s eyes followed, only to narrow in muted aggression. Tom hoped that Vorona understood his wordless plea of “distract Shizuo” while he was simultaneously telling the former bartender that he was going out to smoke for a bit.

“Ah, I’ll join you,” Shizuo told his senpai, making a move to stand up but he was stopped when Vorona grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. Some sort of gentlemanly chivalry found it’s way into Shizuo’s mind and he sat back down. “On second thought, it would be rude to leave you alone.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Tom said with an aggressive nod. “I’ll only be a few minutes,” he said before leaving the two blonds alone.

Vorona stared at Shizuo intently, and though she wasn’t really a conversationalist, she was going to try her hardest to keep Shizuo’s attention solely on her. With a deep breath before speaking, she said: “Shizuo-senpai, I will commence educating you in basic Russian.”

 

Meanwhile, Tom scrambled out of the quaint café, immediately finding whom it was that had caused him to spit out his coffee. He took a deep breath and tried to act casual, making his way towards the man dressed in the familiar black get up. “Orihara-kun, it’s nice to see you.”

Izaya, who was happily reading through his text messages, looked up at the sound of Tom’s voice. His hand was already reaching for his switchblade, because he knew wherever there’s a Tom-san, Shizuo was surely behind him. However, he was pleasantly mistaken when he realized that Tom was alone. “Ah, Tanaka-san. So I see you don’t have your shadow with you today.”

“Shadow?” Tom echoed as he stood directly in front of Izaya, hoping to block his line of sight. He was sure that if the informant spotted Shizuo, he’d cause him nothing but trouble. “Oh, haha! Clever. You mean Shizuo.”

“Quite,” Izaya nodded in agreement, his head tilting slightly to the side in mild but carefully masked confusion. He knows very well who Tanaka Tom is, but he cannot for the life of him figure out why he was talking with him. “Are you here to buy information concerning one of your clients? I know many places where indebted people like to lay low,” He offered. He had nothing against Tom, after all, and business was still business.

Tom shook his head, holding his now lit cigarette idly in between his fingers. “Ah well, actually I’m a little bit curious,” he began, making up a story as best as he could. “I’ve known Shizuo for quite a while now but he has never told me how the two of you ended up… Causing damage to public property.”

“In my defense, I have yet to deface anything. That’s all Shizu-chan,” he replied while raising his hands in something that looked like a surrender. Still, he wasn’t too fond of speaking to others about Shizuo and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit irritated at the other man’s choice of topic. “How much are you willing to pay for that information?”

Tom sighed and deflated just a little bit. “Everything has a price, huh?” he asked, hoping to whatever deities out there would give him a little slack. “What can you give me for free?”

 

Back in the café, Shizuo was struggling to speak in Russian. “ _Sdrahvstvuytyeh..?_ ” he said hesitantly, feeling a little bit shy at how much he butchered the word in front of a native speaker no less. But he didn’t want to give up, not when Vorona was looking at him so intensely. “ _S... Sdrass…_ ugh…”

“ _Zdravstvuyte,_ ” Vorona repeats. “It is zzz not sss, Shizuo-senpai” she told him in a very patient way. “Again.” Though she was indeed very focused on teaching Shizuo how to say “Hello,” she was still letting her gaze fall onto Tom’s back as their senpai struggled to get Izaya away from the vicinity.

“Zzzzz,” Shizuo repeated, trying it out himself. “ _Zdravs…Zdravstvuyt--_ fuck!” he yelped because he accidentally bit on his tongue in an attempt to say hello. He held his hand over his mouth, willing the pain to go away. Funny how the most pain he could feel was self-induced. “Motherfucker,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

Vorona tried not to laugh.

 

Outside, Tom’s cigarette was down to ashes without him even taking a drag. He stared at Izaya with wide eyes, bewildered beyond words.

“That’s a freebie,” Izaya replied with a manic grin, standing up as he shoved his hand into his pocket. “I hope that you use this information about Shizu-chan wisely,” he added, walking away from Tom briskly while waving his hand in goodbye. “And if you ever need information, Shizu-chan can tell you where my office is. до свидания!”

When Tom came back to the café, Shizuo greeted him with “Здравствуйте.”

“What?” Tom asked, confused and mildly distressed at the information he now knew about Shizuo and he couldn’t bear to make eye contact.

“Very good,” Vorona said with a nod of approval. 

Shizuo grinned at the praise.

Tom sighed but the sight of Shizuo smiling, and even Vorona, was enough to get him smiling as well.

(However, Tom was probably not going to look at Shizuo the same way ever again).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Tom...


	3. Discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation at the end, so you can be as clueless as Shizuo for now.

With his line of work, it really didn’t come as a surprise that Izaya had found himself cornered. The only thing he hadn’t accounted for was the fact that Shizuo had cornered him even though, technically speaking, he was no longer within Ikebukuro’s territory. Never mind that it was only by a measly ten meters, Izaya was certain that Shizuo would have left him alone the moment he stepped outside of Ikebukuro’s district.

“Ah, Shizu-chan’s always upsetting me,” he tells the man towering over him, the usual malicious grin gracing his admittedly handsome face. “Don’t you know we’re not in Ikebukuro anymore? I’m not on _your_ territory, you animal. Don’t you think you could cut me some slack today?” he asked almost innocently, but internally he was fuming with anger at the fact that Shizuo had yet again deviated from what he expected him to do. How annoying.

“You’ve no right to talk,” Shizuo growled out through clenched teeth, his hands balling into fists at his side as he tried to keep himself from completely loosing it. “You were going to hurt Vorona,” he added in a softer tone but Izaya sure as hell could feel the animosity that Shizuo felt for him at that very moment.

“Ah, so you saw that?” Izaya said with a resigned look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. He was an expert at telling lies and incomplete truths, but at this very moment in time he was being completely honest with the bodyguard in a bartender’s uniform. “Would you believe me if I said she started it? You wouldn’t, would you?”

“Like hell,” Shizuo yelled, his fist swinging back before darting forward at Izaya’s face. Much to his dismay, Izaya had moved his head just a few inches from where it had been in a very successful dodge. “I’m going to kill you,” he growled.

“Я тебя тоже люблю, милый,” Izaya replied with a roll of his eyes and a sigh as one hand reached up to push back Shizuo’s arm away from him. “Honestly, you’re an animal,” he chided him in annoyance, barely noticing the fact that Shizuo had oddly obeyed his wordless command of moving back. He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Shizuo had picked up the words _”ya tebya lyblyu,”_ which he understood as “I love you” thanks to Vorona’s lessons. His mind started to whirl into too many thoughts at once, but the most predominant thought in his mind was “why is this affecting me so much?” Before he could open his mouth to say the words he didn’t have, he felt hands grabbing at his wrist. He turned his head.

Vorona was holding onto his arm tightly and there was a very kind look in her eyes. “Shizuo-senpai shouldn’t recourse to violence on my behalf,” she said in her usual monotonous voice. “His words, lies are nil,” she added after Shizuo had visibly calmed down.

The kind look in her eyes were replaced by a colder looking one once she turned her head to face Izaya. The informant was grinning widely at her like he just won a battle, and she did not appreciate that look. “I do not like you,” she stated with a frown.

“You’re the little crow that Dennis and Simon are fond of, ne?” he asked and even though he was quite literally cornered by two blonds who could effortlessly kill him, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of excitement at the turn of events. No one had dared to get in between his and Shizuo’s fights. “Чего такого ты видишь в этом монстре?”

Vorona’s brows drew closer together as an unhappy look settled on her face. “Он не монстр. На самом деле, настоящий монстр - это Вы,” she replied, her grip on Shizuo’s wrist tightening slightly as anger began to bubble deep within her. She initially held no feelings towards this man, nothing negative or positive just completely neutral, but now she harbored a spark of distaste simply on Shizuo’s behalf. “Я только предупреждаю вас один раз. Оставьте его в покое” 

Izaya laughed loudly and one would think it was mocking but contrary to that belief it was the kind of laugh filled with absolute delight. “Может быть, ты права. Боги тоже могут быть монстрами.” He would have loved to move around her, like a vulture circling its prey, but much to his provocation the brute still had him trapped. “Шизу-чан действительно простак.”

As the two Russian speakers continued, Shizuo’s lips involuntarily pressed themselves into a tight line. Everything about Vorona spelled out beautiful to him, especially when she spoke to him in her mother tongue. It was pretty when she spoke Russian.

But as Izaya said something to Vorona, something he didn’t understand, he felt the tips of his ears grow warm in a feeling he’s not too sure he can name. His eyes strayed down to Izaya’s lips, watching as the shorter man continued his restless speaking with hard consonants and a heavily intonated speech pattern that he wasn’t familiar with. The way Izaya spoke wasn’t anything like Vorona’s way of speaking, which Shizuo found odd. They were both speaking the same language, he was sure of it, but he didn’t know why they sounded so different in his ears.

He gulped hard.

Before Shizuo could actually think properly, before Vorona decided to slit Izaya’s throat in cold blood, and before Izaya could go into another spiel of mortality that Vorona did not care about—

–Shizuo bent forward and pressed his lips against Izaya’s.

Vorona paused. 

Izaya paused. 

Shizuo paused, realizing that he had made a terrible mistake, his face turning red at an alarming rate.

Izaya’s eyes were wide and blinking, his hand moving up to let the tips of his fingers brush against his own lips in a careful sort of way, as if he couldn’t quite understand what had just happened. But the moment he got a good look at Shizuo’s face to gauge the situation, he understood.

Slowly, his hand moved to cover his own mouth as he struggled to keep his smile from breaking his face in half. A muffled giggle escaped him, and his body was shaking with silent laughter.

Shizuo was really red now, and Vorona could feel the heat of his body seeping out of him. Concerned at the sudden change of his body heat, Vorona moved in between the two men and let her hands cup at Shizuo’s face. “Shizuo-senpai is delirious? The rise in body temperature is too sudden, perhaps sickness has stricken you?”

Behind her Izaya was still shaking hard with silent laughter, leaning back against the wall as he tried to collect himself. It was the perfect chance to run away and escape, and with that motivation he was able to push himself off the wall and away from the blond duo, running with all his might to get a head start. That did not stop him from screaming over his shoulder “Shizu-chan likes it when I talk Russian!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations (Mind you, everything was google translated haha)
> 
> Izaya to Shizuo: I love you too, honey.
> 
> Izaya and Vorona's conversation:  
> Izaya: What is it that you see in this monster?  
> Vorona: He is not a monster. The fact of the matter is that you are the real monster.  
> Vorona: I’m only warning you once. Leave him alone.  
> Izaya: Maybe you’re right. Gods can be monsters too, after all.  
> Izaya: Shizu-chan truly is a protozoan.
> 
> I NEED SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS RUSSIAN HAHA :')


	4. Damn it, Shizu-chan

Izaya entered Russian Sushi with his usual smile stretched across his face, sitting at the bar right in front of Dennis who was currently fixing up an order. He gave a small wave at the chef before planting both of his elbows on the counter and resting his chin on his interlaced fingers. “Hello, Dennis.”

“Kid,” Dennis regarded him with a small nod, but his focus was more on the order he was making. “The usual?”

“Удиви меня” (surprise me) Izaya replied elatedly, locking his ankles together under the counter as he began to swing his legs.

Simon, who had just entered the restaurant, caught the simple movement and yet again sighed as nostalgia washed over him. Izaya still looked and acted like a child. Though he might have looked innocent to strangers, the people who knew him better (not many people in this case) knew that he was probably hatching some evil scheme to ruin the lives of the innocent.

Izaya pulled out his phone and placed it on the counter, watching with delighted eyes as information spilled onto it’s screen in an endless flow of texts and posts from none other than the citizens of Ikebukuro. He swiped his finger across the screen, reading the newest updates regarding his target of the day.

_[I saw heiwajima walking around near Russia Sushi. You guys better stay away from there if you want to avoid him]_

_[Yeah, he looks pretty pissed off]_

_[Doesn’t he always look like that?]_

_[Ah! He’s so scary! ｡゜(｀Д´)゜｡]_

_[But that girl he’s always with is definitely a looker, huh?]_

_[Are you nuts? She’s scary too!]_

_[Argh! People in Russia Sushi better leave quick! It looks like they’re going in!]_

_[Save yourselves!]_

_[- =͟͟͞͞ =͟͟͞͞ ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ Run!!!!]_

Izaya looked up from his phone and sure enough, several customers were gathering their things and getting ready to leave. A group of guys asked for a backdoor, a girl and her best friend quickly paid for their food and left and a group of high school students who were about to enter turned around and left with a muttered “let’s go next time instead.”

He spun around in his seat, facing the doorway as he awaited the man that many people feared. He placed his hands in between his thighs, his palms pressed against the stool and his legs swung in barely contained excitement. Messing around with Shizuo was so fun but dangerous but he was in the sanctuary of Russia Sushi, the one place that he and Shizuo wordlessly and mutually agreed was the one place they could not physically fight.

“Order’s ready, kid,” Dennis informed him, and just as he placed the dish down where Izaya was, Shizuo had come in with Vorona tailing behind him. Dennis sighed despondently and shook his head, deciding that he didn’t want to deal with the two and went back to making more orders.

“Good evening, Shizu-chan,” Izaya greeted calmly and in a tone that sounded unlike his usual self, mostly because it lacked any bite or venom. It sounded like he was genuinely happy to see Shizuo, and he was but for reasons that aren’t very nice.

Shizuo stiffened the moment he locked eyes with Izaya.

“Oooh! Shi-ZU-oh!!” Simon greeted enthusiastically, taking it as a good sign that nothing was broken yet as he draped one arm around Shizuo’s shoulders and led him in. “Good to see you, very good! You sit, we have discount today!” he said, practically shoving the blond into a seat exactly beside Izaya’s. “I give you sushi for free if you and Izaya be good today.”

Izaya spun in his stool again, facing the counter where his order was. It looked pretty weird, but with a shrug of his shoulders he picked one of the oddest-looking pieces of nigiri and popped it in his mouth before chewing thoughtfully. “Will I get my order for free too, Simon?”

The tall Russian nodded as he led Vorona to sit beside Shizuo. “Yes, yes. But if damages happen, Izaya is paying for, yes?”

“Ah, that’s no fair,” Izaya replied with a pout before turning his attention to Shizuo, who was still quiet and had an unreadable look on his face. Izaya plopped his elbow on the counter once more, resting his cheek on his open palm as he smiled up at the blond man.

Vorona leaned forward to glare past Shizuo and at the informant. Though she didn’t say anything, it was obvious that she was trying to threaten Izaya with her looks alone. She remained quiet.

Izaya acknowledged her with a small smile and a crinkle of his eyes before looking at Shizuo again. “So you get turned on around bilinguals, I take it? I guess that’s why you like her, huh?” he asked the former bartender with a lazy grin, as if it were a casual conversation between good friends. “Does that mean you get hot and bothered when Simon and Dennis speak to each oth—“

The glass that was in Shizuo’s grip shattered, water spilling onto the counter and bits of glass spraying across the top. He seethed. “Shut _up_ , Flea.”

Izaya grinned, not at all threatened by the man beside him. “Или ты только возбужден, когда я это делаю?” (Or are you only excited when I do it?) he practically purred, his voice sounding deeper than it usual was as he quirked his eyebrows in a teasing sort of way. 

From behind the counter, Simon sent a questioning look over at Izaya but was displeased to see that Izaya’s full attention was on Shizuo. Instead he sent it at Vorona, who seemed to bristle at Izaya’s words, but she too ignored his look and instead continued to glare at the informant. Simon sighed.

“В постели ты тоже зверь?” (are you a beast in bed too?) Izaya continued, trying to keep his grin from growing too wide. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, and if there was one thing Izaya prided himself in, it was the fact that he could portray himself to be seductive if he really wanted to. The signs that his words were affecting were starting to show, and he thought it was kind of cute that it’s always the tips of Shizuo’s ears that go red. He picked up another one of the mysterious looking nigiri’s and popped it into his mouth, waiting to see if Shizuo would speak up or act.

Simon, upon hearing that comment, had too look back up from his work to look at Izaya to make sure what he was hearing was right. He chanced a glance at Dennis, who looked just as surprised as he did.

Shizuo lacked a reaction and Izaya feigned a sigh, sounding like he was disappointed. His eyelids drooped low, looking at Shizuo once more with what one would describe as bedroom eyes. “Нечего сказать? Почему бы просто не прокричать моё имя, как ты всегда делаешь?” (At a loss for words? Why not scream my name like you always do?) he asked, his tone heavy with implications that made Vorona blush the slightest bit and his lips twitched at his silent victory against her.

“Вы омерзительны” (you’re disgusting) she quipped with a frown on her face. “I request for you to stop.”

“What… What did he say, Vorona?” Shizuo asked in shy curiosity, at last reacting after his long moment of silence. He held his head low, hiding his eyes from his kohai in what could be interpreted as embarrassment but at the moment no one could really tell.

Vorona pressed her lips together in a tight line, turning her head to the side in slight embarrassment. She could not bear to relay the message to him, especially since it was probably Izaya just teasing both of them at the same time. “I apologize, Shizuo-senpai. I do not wish to impart that knowledge on you.”

The former bartender looked down at the counter in pensive silence.

People around the restaurant were slowly evacuating, an odd tenseness in the air warning them that things were probably going to end badly.

Izaya grinned again, thoroughly enjoying the reactions that the Russians were showing him: Vorona with her muted embarrassment and anger, Simon with his eyes wide like an owl’s in what he could only assume was disbelief while Dennis was coughing out the water that he was drinking.

“Ты милый в такие моменты” (You’re cute when you’re like this) Izaya muttered quietly, one hand falling to rest on Shizuo’s thigh. He almost laughed at the way Shizuo stiffened at the simple touch and started to move his hand in a teasing manner. He pulled his hand back slightly, letting his fingertips trace random patterns onto Shizuo’s thigh. “Ты такой послушный. Мне это нравится.” (You’re so docile. I love it).

“Izaya,” Simon said, interrupting the awkward one-sided conversation Izaya was sharing with Shizuo. “Он действительно тебе нравится?” (Do you actually like him?) he asked as he placed a glass of water in front of the very still Shizuo, feeling a little worried at the man’s lack of reaction.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Izaya teased Simon, grinning at him and showing off all his pearly whites. “Didn’t you want us to stop fighting, Simon? That’s what’s happening right now, isn’t it?”

He turned to Shizuo this time and smiled in a kinder way, but his eyes were still teaming with delight and playfulness. “Isn’t that right, Shizu-chan? Its nice when we’re not fighting…” And his hand snaked up Shizuo’s thigh, the tips of his fingers edging close to dangerous territories before sliding back down to his knee teasingly.

“Uhm…” Shizuo muttered, grabbing for the glass that Simon had given him to take a long swig in an attempt to distract himself from that hand on his knee. It wasn’t even moving anymore but it was still sending shivers up and down Shizuo’s spine in a way that wasn’t undesirable. He cursed internally, absolutely flustered and at a loss.

“Боюсь об заклад, ты издаешь самые сладкие звуки,” (I bet you make the sweetest noises) Izaya continued to purr at him, getting a little more courageous as he spun Shizuo’s stool so that they were face to face, his hands sliding up the bodyguard’s knees to rest on his thighs again. Izaya gave him a teasing squeeze, leaning forward and craning his neck so that he could look up and directly into Shizuo’s eyes. “Позволь мне взять тебя домой. Позволь мне взять _тебя_ ” (Let me take you home. Let me take _you_ ).

“IZAYA,” Simon yelped, his mouth moving as he tried to form words. He couldn't. Vorona and Dennis seemed to share his sentiment, looking back and forth at everyone in their awkward crowd as they tried to make sense of the situation.

“I— I— What?” Shizuo asked desperately, his eyes glued to Izaya’s hands, which were dangerously too close. He gulped hard, his hands shaking in nervousness as he tried to think, _think damn it!_ But Izaya’s hands squeezed at his thighs again and he let out a quiet whimper that he would never admit to making.

At Shizuo’s noise, everyone stopped, even Izaya.

Though he was teasing him earlier, Izaya couldn’t help but wonder about what kind of noises Shizuo could make if he… _touched_ him in all the right places. Taking a deep breath, Izaya tried his luck, moving his hands a little higher up Shizuo’s thighs and past his hips to caress softly at his sides.

Shizuo took in a sharp intake of air and shivered at the light touch.

“Боже мой,” ( _My god_ ), Izaya breathed out, suddenly interested in doing many more other things to Shizuo. Standing up abruptly, he took Shizuo’s hand in his, pulling the taller man into a standing position. He was pleased that Shizuo didn’t show any signs of resistance. Before anyone could stop them, he pulled Shizuo into a walk that turned into a sprint and the two of them ran out of Russian Sushi, leaving a very confused Russian trio behind along with a few gossipy whispers from the remaining customers.

“I-izaya—“ Shizuo stuttered once he had finally snapped out of whatever daze he was in earlier. They were quite far away now from Russian Sushi, and he didn’t even realize how long they’ve been running. He didn’t know why Izaya was still holding his hand. “Iza—“

“Ты _мой_ ” (You’re _mine_ ).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jokes on u Izaya


	5. Propositions

Somehow they had ended up in Izaya’s apartment, which confused the both of them to some extent. Izaya was confused as to why Shizuo had willingly boarded the Yamanote line train with him, but he had chalked it up to Shizuo being too confused with the whole situation to fully understand where they were and what they were doing. Shizuo on the other had was confused as to why he let Izaya lead him to, as he now noticed, his apartment in Shinjuku and why his usually wild strength seemed to be absent along with his anger towards the shorter man.

Izaya was not too sure how he was going to handle the situation, but he did have several goals in mind: the first one was that he _needed_ to touch Shizuo, to find out what kind of touches and where he needed to touch would be the most effective to make him make bedroom noises that he didn’t know he wanted to hear until now. The second one was to, possibly, if Shizuo didn’t kill him, have his way with him.

Shizuo had thought, as they passed the door to Izaya’s apartment, that Izaya would turn on him and grin that malicious grin of his and relentlessly make fun of him. Another thought that quickly flitted though his mind was that Izaya was going to kiss him, which he found odd but not out of place. He shook away the thought before he could dwell on it any longer, closing the door behind him as Izaya stripped off his trademark coat. He cleared his throat, breaking the heavy silence that surrounded them.

As much as he’d love to throw Shizuo against the wall and _kiss him breathless_ , Izaya knew that Shizuo could effortlessly throw him off. Though Izaya was far from being an innocent man, he would never force himself upon another person even if that person was Shizuo Heiwajima. Though people assumed he didn’t have it, he did have an inkling of a sense of morals. So instead of throwing Shizuo against the wall, he sat down on his leather couch, watching the blond shuffle awkwardly at the threshold of his home.

“W…what’s going on?” Shizuo asked after he had found the courage to speak and reluctantly, at Izaya’s gesture for him to sit, he made his way further into the apartment and sat down a couple of feet away to Izaya’s right. He took a deep breath, his hands reaching into his pockets for a smoke.

“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t light up a cancer stick,” Izaya said the moment Shizuo pulled out his pack. “I’m not very fond of second or third hand smoke, you know.”

Shizuo relented immediately, tossing the pack onto the coffee table in front of them. He took another breath to calm himself down before asking, “what’s happening?”

The day was filled with so many surprises, and in that moment Izaya surprised himself as well when he asked “why did you kiss me?” Izaya was no stranger to kisses, especially kisses that meant nothing other than lust or need, but the way Shizuo had kissed him was so innocent and hesitant that he didn’t know what to make of it.

The Russian language apparently turned on Shizuo… Except that wasn’t completely true; Shizuo has known Simon for almost as long as he has, and the brute has never shown any sort of reaction to it except mild annoyance because he didn’t understand. Vorona, from what he has observed, barely spoke Russian around the former bartender but even so, Shizuo has witnessed her speaking it and didn’t really think too much of it.

So why was it that he was an exception?

“I don’t know..?” Shizuo answered as honestly as he could, the many different shades of awkward making him squirm in his seat. This is the first time he and Izaya had a one on one conversation that didn’t involve damaged property, this is the first time he’s actually been inside Izaya’s office/home without having to invite himself in. Furthermore, this is the first time he’s been angrier with himself rather than Izaya for lacking the answer he wish he had. “It just happened.”

“Things don’t _just happen_ , Shizu-chan,” Izaya replied with a small frown on his face, trying to make sense of Shizuo’s train of thought that the brute didn’t even understand either. “But I guess that to be expected from you, someone who isn’t even human,” he said haughtily, all the flirtatiousness from earlier that night gone mostly to benefit himself. Teasing and making fun of Shizuo was something he was good at, being honest and talking like proper adults was something he wasn’t too sure he was willing to try.

The moment Shizuo’s fist collided with the coffee table was the moment Izaya let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Angry Shizuo was something he was used to, and something easier to deal with. But he wouldn’t deny to himself that the docile and oddly cute Shizuo was something he wanted to see more of.

“Can you cut all the crap?” Shizuo growled at him through gritted teeth, his anger only barely contained within his body. “I don’t like what’s happening,” he admits, pulling his hand back to inspect the splinters imbedded into his knuckles and he promptly plucks them out like they don’t hurt. “And I’d love to smash your god damned face into the wall but I know that ain’t going to solve… whatever this is…” he ends rather lamely, like he had some sort of well thought speech and decided that it was stupid.

Izaya places his hand delicately over his lips in a gesture that could be perceived as coy, but Shizuo knew Izaya to some extent and felt his stomach do a little flip in disgust. The blond’s train of thought was interrupted by Izaya’s giggles erupting into full fledge chortles. That noise alone was enough to trigger Shizuo’s anger, and if this were a normal situation he would have tired to grab Izaya by the collar of his shirt and thrown him out the window; key word being tried.

“I have a proposition for you then, Shizu-chan,” Izaya said before Shizuo could tell him to shut up. His playfulness was reignited now by the idea that he had formed in his mind just at that very moment, twisting his body and pushing himself forward to force Shizuo to awkwardly shuffle away from him until his back hit the arm of the leather couch. Izaya planted both palms on either side of the former bartender’s hips, trapping the taller man within the circle of his arms. He let himself get close like a moth to a flame, so dangerous and risky, before whispering against Shizuo’s ear. “Давай встречаться.” (Let’s date).

“I don’t know what that means,” Shizuo manages to blurt out despite the fact that his tongue feels like its tied beyond untying. His ears, yet again, are the first signs of his flustered state and it doesn’t help that Izaya is breathing against his ear in a way that is definitely not normal breathing. His suspicions are confirmed the moment he feels the wet muscle that was Izaya’s tongue tracing the shell of his ear in a very slow and deliberate manner. “Sp—Speak Japanese, damn it..!”

He had arms, but for some reason they felt like lead and he couldn’t bring himself to lift them no matter how much he willed himself to. They were shaking too hard in anxiousness, which really only confused him. So what if he’s never really had any real intimate relationships? This shouldn’t have him _and_ his body confused to the point that his appendages wouldn’t even listen to him. He managed to shift his legs, only barely, and his knee brushed up against Izaya’s thigh and he could have sworn that he felt Izaya shiver above him but he was too out of it to really confirm his uncertainties and also because it was at that moment that Izaya decided to talk and break the silence.

“ _I said_ ,” he purred into his ear, all hot breath and just above a whisper. “ _Let’s date._ ”

“ _What?!_ ” Shizuo replied in a startle, his limbs finally cooperating with him as he shoved Izaya off his personal space and sent him sliding across the couch with his back hitting the opposite end like a bowling ball hitting a strike. He stared at Izaya, who looked a bit dazed at the impact, convincing himself that this was one huge misunderstanding.

That move had knocked the air out of Izaya’s lungs quite literally and it took him a full minute before he was able to collect himself. Thankfully Shizuo was in too much of a shock to do anything else but stare, and Izaya propped himself forwards slightly to rub at his sore back, thinking with a very small frown that he’s going to be bruising there later. But the frown was gone instantaneously as he raised his head to look at Shizuo. “I don’t really understand the situation myself, which is pretty amazing considering how smart I am,” Izaya stated, and though he was being honest it sounded like he was showing off. “It’s the most logical thing to do, isn’t it?”

“No?” Shizuo replied instantly, feeling the need to draw his legs up and closer to his body, as if he were any nearer to the informant across him would mean his death. “Izaya, I hate you and you hate me. That’s fucking mutual isn’t it?”

“Hmm,” Izaya hummed in a theatrical manner, rubbing his chin in faux pensiveness. “If I do recall correctly, I said that we could have been friends but you tried to punch me,” he said and he did recall correctly because Orihara Izaya had the memory of an elephant and as they say, elephants never forget. “How rude of you to assume that the hatred is mutual; we could have been friends if you had given me the chance,” he sighed then, leaning back against the arm of the couch as he draped on arm over his eyes in exaggerated disappointment. “Who knows, we could have been boyfriends.”

“The fuck,” Shizuo replied with a small laugh that sounded almost desperate. “I’m calling bullshit on that,” he grunts because he knows he threw the first punch that started their feud, but he’s absolutely positive on the fact that Izaya hates him as much as he does.

“Ah, you’re so irritating,” Izaya replied and Shizuo was glad to hear those words. “If I must spell it out for you, very well: if you don’t fathom something, you study it, observe it, understand it. I don’t comprehend what’s going on between us right now, so I would like to assess the situation without having my head torn off my body.” A smirk is on his face and he added, “Though I do admit that there could be some… Sexual benefits to this whole ordeal.”

“What the fuck—“

“Дай мне шанс, который ты не позволил мне иметь все эти годы назад,” (give me the chance you didn’t let me have all those years ago) Izaya interposed in Russian, mostly because he knew it would affect Shizuo greatly and also because he didn’t actually want Shizuo to understand what he was saying. Like he’d admit to the brute that he was actually hoping to spark a friendship back when they were high school; that was information that he’d reserve for himself. “Of course, I wont force you Shizu-chan, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he added instead of what he actually meant, his eyebrows wiggling in a very suggestive manner.

Shizuo stared at the man he’d been trying to kill for years, confusion flooding every part of his body. After what felt like hours (really only ten seconds), the blond had managed to pull himself off the couch in a tangle of limbs before making his way to the entrance of Izaya’s apartment. “Not interested,” he muttered quietly, grumbling all the way to the door.

“Пожалуйста?” (please?) Izaya cooed, making his way towards the door in brisk but quiet steps like a cat, blocking the exit with his body before Shizuo could leave. “There’s no harm, right? I wont be trouble, and you can keep an eye on me the whole while,” he tried to convince him.

Asking Shizuo so politely was a hard thing to do, and though it looked like he was bargaining with the blond it felt like he was begging him. Still, he put on his usual face, although it had a touch of innocence to it that was actually sincere. 

If he had his way with Shizuo by force, he’d end up with a broken body (or even worse, dead). The safest way to play this new game of his was to play it slow and careful and for that to work he needed to make sure that Shizuo would eventually convince himself that this was what he wanted. Besides, teasing him with short Russian phrases was fun. He could only imagine what would happen if he spoke dirty to him in Russian. A delighted smile graced his features.

Shizuo looked troubled, like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Я хочу коснуться твоего тела. Я хочу, чтобы ты кричал моё имя в экстазе. Я хочу доминировать твоё тело и разум. И я не собираюсь делить тебя с кем-то.” (I want to tear you apart with my words alone. I want to touch your body. I want to hear you scream my name in ecstasy. I want to dominate both your mind and body. And I have no intention of sharing you with anyone else.) Izaya spoke in a sultry tone as he made his way towards Shizuo to close the gap between them, speaking slowly and quiet and he was delighted in the way the blond stiffened and noticed the bob of his Adams apple as he gulp in nervousness. Ah, how innocent Shizu-chan can be.

It was almost mesmerizing, the way Izaya was speaking to him then, and though every part of him was screaming “no,” the words that escaped Shizuo’s lips was the simple reply: “ _fine._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry to native Russian speakers for butchering Russian by using google translate.
> 
> This chapter was supposed to be a smut chapter, but after discussing with my friend how I should deal with this, she suggested that I do this instead because it would be funnier. This chapter was supposed to be smut, and it was supposed to be the last chapter. Somehow it ended up radically different.
> 
> Well, I have this goal, you see. A lot of Shizaya/Izuo fanfiction is very... Well, they tend to have very toxic relationships and I'm trying to stray away from that but at the same time try to keep them in character. Keeping them in character is incredibly hard when all I want is for them to confess their undying love for each other.
> 
> I don't know how long this fic is going to be or how it's going to end. Lmao. I'm open to suggestions tho.


	6. Introductions

Tom tugged nervously at the collar of his button up shirt, letting his eyes roam everywhere but in front of him. At his side was Vorona sitting apprehensively, her eyes very much focused on what Tom’s were trying to avoid. “Do you mind if I smoked?” Tom asked, already reaching for his pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. He didn’t really feel safe at the moment; in fact it felt like he was trying to defuse a bomb that was about to detonate.

“I do mind,” Izaya chirped in reply with a smile on his face, his fingers dipping into the glass ashtray that sat in the middle of the table. He pulled the ashtray towards himself and away from Tom, his free hand already reaching over to grab Shizuo’s before the butt of his cigarette could touch his lips. “That means you too, Shizu-chan.”

Shizuo grumbled petulantly, watching with a frown as Izaya confiscated his pack of cigarettes straight from his vest pocket. “I wasn’t gonna light it,” he replied, staring down at the now useless ashtray since neither he or Tom would be using it.

“It’s a waste of your money then,” Izaya replied, dunking the pack of cigarettes into his glass of water to render them useless.

“The purpose of this meeting is being avoided and is unclear to me,” Vorona cut in suddenly, her eyes narrowing into slits the moment Izaya sent her a smile. “I do not comprehend; Shizuo-senpai and “The Flea” are within each other’s perimeters however there is nary the presence of violence.” She turned to Shizuo then, as if expecting an answer from him even if it were a non-verbal one but much to her confusion Shizuo turned away from her gaze. It didn’t look like she was going to get answers from him, so she let her gaze fall back on Izaya.

Izaya smiled broadly before reaching for his coffee, sipping at it in a deliberately slow manner. He knew that Vorona was expecting him to speak and to explain but he decided not to. After all, Tom and Vorona were Shizuo’s friends, not his, so it was only natural that it had to be Shizuo to explain to them what was happening. His eyes darted to the side to give Shizuo a sidelong glance as he smirked against the lip of his coffee cup.

An awkward silence fell upon the awkward group.

The informant couldn’t help but feel happy at that moment because not only were Tom and Vorona confused by the situation (heck, even Shizu-chan was confused), but he could see from the corner of his eye that some people were looking over at their table in hushed whispers and curious glances. He could feel the vibration of his phone in his pocket and though he didn’t bother to take it out he knew exactly what was causing all those notifications.

_[It's a date, isn’t it?]_

_[Looks like it. They’re at a family restaurant of all places.]_

_[So are… they actually dating?]_

_[It’s pretty cute though, isn’t it]_

_[You have a point. My boyfriend hasn’t even bothered introducing me to his friends…]_

_[How cruel of your boyfriend! Σ(꒪◊꒪ ;;))))]_

_[You should definitely dump him! o(≧∇≦o) he doesn’t deserve you!]_

_[Heiwajima-san is more old fashioned than I thought he was]_

_[Do you think he’s going to introduce Orihara to his parents?]_

_[(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ)) waah! How romantic!]_

_[Do girls really like that kind of thing?]_

_[What if they got married!? (｡’▽’｡)♡]_

_[I don’t think same sex marriage is legal here…]_

_[Nooooooo!!!!!!!]_

Shizuo frowned at his milkshake, the one Izaya had ordered for him, and briefly wondered how Izaya knew what his favorite flavor was. Speaking of Izaya, he had gone oddly quiet. Shizuo lifted his gaze from his milkshake to Izaya only to find that the shorter man was nonchalantly ignoring his silent plea for help. He didn’t want to explain to Tom and Vorona what was going on, mostly because he didn’t know how to explain it exactly. He was hoping that Izaya would explain it, since Izaya loved to hear his own voice anyway, to spare him the embarrassment. The one time Shizuo actually wants Izaya to talk is the moment he doesn’t, typical.

With a heavy sigh and a nervous twirl of the straw in his milkshake, he attempted what he didn’t want to do. “We’re dating,” he stated simply and quickly and didn’t bother to elaborate any further than that. He didn’t have the courage to, really, and he didn’t know what to add to that. “So… Yeah…”

Izaya let out a giggle, partly because of how cute Shizuo was being and partly because the phone in his pants pocket was vibrating so violently it was starting to tickle him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he put his coffee cup down and pulled his phone out. “I just have to answer this email,” he lied easily, his fingers already tapping the rapidly growing threat that circulated around his and Shizuo’s love life. “Continue your discussion,” he told Shizuo, while pretending to look busy when really he was enjoying every bit of conversation in the thread. 

Tom reached for his can of soda, taking a swig from it if only to keep his mouth occupied because he really didn’t want to speak. So Vorona took lead of the conversation instead, since it looked like none of the men at the table wanted to talk. “Shizuo-senpai,” she addressed in her usual polite way. Shizuo raised his head and gave her with an almost ashamed look, which she didn’t quite understand. “Have your feelings for The Pest been upturned?”

“Ah, how rude,” Izaya muttered quietly to himself, a little bit amused but also a little bit ticked off at the fact that Vorona was giving him nicknames now as well. He did not expect Shizuo to pat the top of his head in what seemed to be a comforting gesture, and he didn’t like the way it made him feel a little bit better. He focused on his phone, a tiny frown on his usually smirking face. Shizu-chan is always unpredictable.

“Things are… Not the same as they used to be,” Shizuo struggled with his reply, staring at Vorona’s forehead instead of her eyes because he knew he’d falter if he saw the intense way she was looking at him. “We… uhm… putting differences aside… things like that…” he added with many awkward gesticulations with his hands as he tried his best to explain the situation.

Tom, finally gaining a little of his sensibility back, cleared his throat. He should be happy for Shizuo, after all, because he’s found someone who wanted to be with him in a romantic sort of way. But still, this was Orihara Izaya. Whether or not he actually felt anything for Shizuo, Tom couldn’t help but feel like this was some sort of elaborate plan to ruin Shizuo’s life from another perspective. Being Shizuo’s friend and sort of an older brother figure to him as well, Tom decided that it was his duty to make sure that Shizuo was happy and that Izaya wasn’t going to screw him over. “That’s great,” he said with an awkward smile that was only half meant. He turned to Izaya and gave a curt nod. “You better take care of him, Orihara-kun, if you know what’s good for you.”

Shizuo seemed embarrassed at that comment, taking this moment to take long sips from his milkshake.

“Oho? Is that a threat, Tanaka-san?” Izaya queried with a curious smile, placing his phone down onto the tabletop as he folded his fingers together in contemplation. “I didn’t know you were that kind of guy, then again I suppose I should have expected it. Shizu-chan wasn’t with you when you started working so you had to be a threatening sort of guy, huh?”

Tom shrugged, leaning back onto his seat as he rolled his shoulders in an exhausted sort of way. “I’m not really a man of violence,” he answered. “But I can’t say that you’d be safe from her wrath if you were to do something we didn’t like.” Tom swears to himself that he wasn’t trying to be threatening, but now that he’s running the words over and over again in his head, he does sound like he’s threatening him. Well, he supposes that it doesn’t matter.

At that comment, Izaya turned his head to the supposed source of wrath; he knew very well what Vorona was capable of and he wasn’t quite sure yet if he had a complete understanding of her personality. For now, it would be best to play safe. “Oh I assure you, I have no intention of hurting Shizu-chan.” _Yet_ he added in his mind, and then turned to the blond in question. “Unless he wants me to, of course.”

Tom choked on nothing, gasping out “oh my god,” as he tried to compose himself. Shizuo nor Vorona understood Izaya’s implications so they were shocked by Tom’s sudden burst of coughing. Vorona gave three heavy and painful sounding slaps to Tom’s back in an attempt to help him, but that only resulted in more panic because Vorona was unaware of her own strength and in the end accidentally hurt Tom who now had his upper body sprawled on the table.

“Tom-san?!” Shizuo practically yelped, springing to his feet and around the table to help Tom out. Seeing that Tom was barely all right and hanging onto consciousness despite the pain, Shizuo glared at Izaya who was smiling innocently despite the ruckus. “Did you do something to his drink?!”

Izaya feigned an offended gasp, his hand going up to rest on his heart. “Shizu-chan, you’re accusing your beloved boyfriend of such a heinous crime! Why ever would I do something like that to someone you hold dear?” He gasped a perfect theatrical gasp accompanied by the back of his hand resting on his forehead dramatically. “Ah, perhaps you’re thinking I’m some sort of yandere?”

“Yande—what?”

“The term yandere originated from moe culture; Yandere etymology: combination of the terms “yanderu,” to be sick, and “deredere,” to be love-struck. Those who are perceived to be yandere are looking innocent and genuine upon initial impressions however there is underlying violent, manipulative and obsessive tendencies that may or may not be ever-present or imprudent,” Vorona explained seamlessly, her defenses suddenly going into overdrive as she put her arm across Tom and Shizuo, as if making herself a human shield from Izaya. “Understood, The Pest is now categorized as yandere. It is unsafe for us to be within his perimeter.”

Izaya blinked in genuine shock several times, the smirk dropping momentarily before being replaced with an amused smile. “I didn’t know your studies were so extensive!” he chirped happily, twisting his body to look around the restaurant to find the person he knew was in the crowd. Soon enough he spotted the familiar black hat “Karisawa, has she gotten it right?”

Karisawa popped up from where she was hiding, Yumasaki following after her. “Yup yup!” Karisawa replied while enthusiastically waving at the group that was gaining the attention of almost everyone in the family restaurant. “But how did you know we were here, Izaiza?”

Yumasaki’s head dropped despondently and he grabbed the phone that Karisawa was clutching tightly in her hand. “You’ve been taking and posting pictures of them the whole time. It was pretty obvious it was you flooding the thread on DOLLARS,” he said with a sigh and sure enough on the screen of Karisawa’s phone was an obscure photo of Izaya and Shizuo’s backs with the caption “OTP: Confirmed.”

Despite the fact they were practically being stalked (and despite the fact it was a pain in the ass to have information on his whereabouts so easily accessible to anyone including people who might want to kill him or Shizuo) Izaya mirrored the smile on Karisawa’s face. “If you wanted a photo you could have just asked. And yes, your OTP is official. We’re canon now,” he replied, giving her the peace sign with a wink to match. “By the way, Yumasaki, I can only assume you were the one to teach the little crow new vocabulary.”

“Guilty as charged,” Yumasaki grinned back at him, raising his hands in surrender. “How can I be anything but enamored by such a lovely woman, whose strength is way beyond my own? Ah, if only I could sweep her away from Shizuo-san! She could be the _Lime_ , no! The _Cherry_ —no, no! You can be the _Bloodberry_ to my _Otaru!_ ” he yelled loudly and enthusiastically as he and Karisawa approached the table of misfits. He sat beside Izaya and Karisawa squeezed in beside him as well, but he turned his utmost attention to the blond Russian. “Or could it be you’re more like _Senjougahara-san_? Ne, Vorona-san, are you perhaps tsundere?”

“Tsundere?” Vorona echoed, her arm still outstretched in front of her friends defensively. “I know not the meaning, please to elaborate.”

“Tsundere comes from—“ Izaya stood up abruptly and moved away from Yumasaki, interrupting the other man’s explanation. The otaku lost his balance and, having Karisawa sharing his seat, they both tumbled to the ground in a noisy yet excited heap of tangled limbs.

The informant walked around the table, ignored Vorona’s glare and gave Tom a sympathetic pat to the top of his head before grabbing Shizuo by the sleeve of his bartender uniform. “Let’s go, Shizu-chan,” he muttered quietly, tugging at Shizuo’s sleeve and half dragged him out of the commotion of the now too noisy restaurant. If they stay any longer, it would only be a matter of time until some unwanted company to arrive.

“Desist!” Vorona demanded as she stood up brusquely and the crowd that had gathered around them parted as she made her way towards the couple. “I will not let you harm Shizuo-senpai.”

“Уверяю, я не сделаю ему больно” (I wont hurt him, I assure you) Izaya told her with a dismissive wave of his hand, tugging Shizuo out of the restaurant before sprinting into a run, just like they had several days ago.

“Tch…” Vorona said in a way similar to how Shizuo would have when he was pissed but she didn’t chase after the two men and held her ground, watching as they disappeared into the sea of people. She didn’t trust the informant, but the way he had spoken to her just now felt like he meant it. Vorona wasn’t really good at reading others, however at that moment she understood that Izaya really didn’t mean any harm. At least, not yet.

“The Shizaya fans are going to dislike you,” Karisawa said, suddenly appearing at Vorona’s side. “It looks like you’re trying to get in the way of their love,” she explained, trying to find her OTP in the crowd in vain.

“Shizaya?” Vorona asked, perplexed. “What is this Shizaya?”

Yumasaki sighed dejectedly as he saw the enthusiastic gleam in Karisawa’s eyes. He did not complain, however, when he saw the two girls hold hands as Karisawa led Vorona to nowhere in particular as she began to explain the concepts of yaoi and the complexities of shipping Izaya and Shizuo together.

“I’ll take the bill, please,” Tom said, forgotten by the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do love Tom-san. in particular, I love putting him in awkward situations.
> 
> Also, my mom's best friend is Russian. The way Vorona is speaking is similar to how my mom's friend speaks haha.


	7. Dates

“You’re steppin’ on my foot, damn it—“

“Shizu-chan, really, do you not know what an inside voice is?”

“I’ll use my god damned inside voice as soon as you ge—“

“Shh!”

Shizuo shuffled around in the cramped broom closet as best as he could without being too noisy, which proved to be increasingly difficult since Izaya was making no effort to make room for him. With his barely controlled annoyance Shizuo leaned against the wall, his head bumping into a shelf that was far too short for him and he had to crane his neck in a very awkward and painful position. Really, if felt like human tetris.

“Good, stay like that,” Izaya whispered to him, pressing his ear into the wall of the broom closet as he attempted to catch whatever he could of the conversation that was ongoing in the room adjacent to the broom closet. Thankfully Shizuo had calmed down enough to keep quiet and though the tête-à-tête was muffled he could pick it up well enough.

Though it was dim in the room, Shizuo could still very clearly see Izaya’s face; the informant had his ear and cheek pressed against the wall, his tongue sticking out slightly in concentration as he eavesdropped. He averted his gaze then, looking at the poor bucket that had been dented out of its normal shape when they haphazardly pushed themselves into the closet in an attempt to clear his mind of “Izaya looks cute.”

 

 

**[Earlier that morning]**

 

 

The day had started out with Izaya ringing the doorbell to his apartment at too early in the god damned morning (though really, it was already 10 but it was Shizuo’s day off and he had intended to sleep in). The Flea had a smile on his face and a small bouquet of flowers that Shizuo dumbly accepted in awe, too distracted to notice that Izaya had let himself in.

When he was able to snap himself out of his stupor, Shizuo slammed his apartment door closed as he stalked after Izaya. “Flea, what the fuck,” he managed to growl out in frustration but oddly enough the grip on the bouquet remained gentle, as if he didn’t want to ruin the gift that was given to him. The blond gave the informant a once over before asking “what the hell are you wearing?”

Izaya had looked completely surprised at the question, his eyebrows drawn up in question. “Does… Does it not look good?” he asked, looking down at his outfit to spot what was wrong with it.

“You,” Shizuo said while pointing an accusing finger at him. “You look… not like you.”

“You’re so eloquent with your words, I’m swooning,” Izaya replied with a chuckle in his voice, the shock leaving him. “I have other outfits too, you know,” he informed him with an amused shake of his head. 

Izaya indeed looked oddly different, more “normal” was the only way Shizuo could describe it; instead of his usually all-black ensemble Izaya was wearing a tawny coat with gold buttons running down on either side with a carob long sleeved shirt underneath it, the ends of the shirt’s sleeve peeking out from under the sleeves. He was wearing dark blue jeans and tan lace up high-cut boots with his grey socks pulled only slightly higher than where the boots ended.

He looked, much to Shizuo’s dismay, very good.

“But why,” Shizuo finally asked, placing the flowers on the coffee table.

“We’re going on a date, silly,” Izaya told him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Though the real reason he was dressed differently from how he usually did was because he didn’t want to be spotted in a crowd and though he loved his fur trimmed jacket almost as much as he loved humans, it would be too easy to spot Orihara Izaya in a crowd. It’s what people noticed when looking for Izaya, and Izaya had no intention of being spotted or followed on that day. After all, he needed to prove to Shizuo that he was damned serious about dating.

“Oh,” Shizuo replied, as if he should have known.

“Go on, get dressed,” Izaya instructed, waving his hand at Shizuo. “I’ll look for a vase for these flowers,” he added as he picked up the bouquet and made his way around Shizuo’s apartment like he knew it like the back of his hand.

The blond shuffled awkwardly to his room, picking out his outfit carefully, which wasn’t really careful at all since he almost automatically pulled on the clothes that Kasuka had gotten him years ago. When he came out he was buttoning up the vest to his usual bartender uniform. “M’ready.”

Izaya turned at the sound of Shizuo’s voice, almost dropping the vase in his hands as an appalled look encompassed his features. He looked so offended that Shizuo had to look away and scratch the back of his neck like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, which really didn’t make much sense to him. “What are you wearing,” Izaya asked, exasperated.

“…This…?” Shizuo replied with a question as he gestured down at his outfit.

“Oh my god,” Izaya said, placing the vase down before making his way towards Shizuo and began to push the blond back into his room. “No, no. You can’t wear that,” he insisted as he pushed Shizuo into the middle of the room before going to the closet doors to throw them open. “This is a date, you have to dress special.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Shizuo asked, genuinely confused and dismayed at the fact that his choice in clothing was apparently not good enough.

Izaya let out an indignant huff, throwing several articles of clothing over his shoulder as he looked for a suitable outfit. “It’s not special, like I said. And though you do look good in that bartender getup of yours, it is far from appropriate for a date.”

Shizuo remained quiet. He did not know that he looked good in his bartender uniform.

“What the hell,” Izaya said after a few minutes of tossing and digging through Shizuo’s clothes. “Are these all your clothes?”

“Yes?” Shizu answered, sitting down on his bed because he didn’t want to just stand and watch Izaya dig through his closet.

“You can’t be serious,” Izaya asked in a bewildered sort of way. “This is really everything?”

“Yes.”

Izaya took a deep breath and shook his head for a moment before pivoting his body to face Shizuo who looked like a child who didn’t belong in the room. “Okay, that will have to do for now,” Izaya said finally with a sigh, grabbing Shizuo’s hand to lead him out of the apartment. “I’ll just have to buy you a new outfit.”

 

 

**[Earlier that morning, but a little later]**

 

 

Shizuo stared at himself in the full-length mirror in the mall’s changing room, almost not recognizing himself as Izaya smirked proudly from behind him.

He was wearing a simple grey shirt with some obscure print on it (some sort of reference that he didn’t really understand nor cared about) and a black cardigan over it. He chose to leave it unbuttoned just to spite Izaya who claimed he would have looked better if it were buttoned up. He had khaki cargo pants and, in contrast to Izaya’s high-cut boots, Shizuo was wearing beige ankle-cut boots.

“You look great,” Izaya piped up happily, already exiting the changing booth with a few of the tags in his hand. “I’ll go pay for these, you fix up in here. Or maybe look at yourself more if that’s what you want to do,” he added with a laugh, leaving Shizuo to stir in his own thoughts.

He vaguely remembered that someone once called him attractive, though he never really believed it. He still didn’t believe it but he couldn’t deny that he looked pretty darn good right at that moment, and he had to wonder if Izaya was some sort of fashionista. The informant picked everything out for him as soon as they entered the store, barely stopping to contemplate if the outfit would look good.

When Shizuo had very carefully folded his bartender uniform and exited the changing room, he found Izaya waiting for him with his hands shoved into his pockets. They left the mall, dropped off Shizuo’s uniform back at his apartment, and finally started their date.

 

 

**[Earlier that afternoon]**

 

 

“Wow,” Izaya stated simply as Shizuo helped himself to his second parfait of the day. It was almost disgusting how much sugar Shizuo could shovel into his mouth, but Izaya supposed that the brute needed the energy for his strength or something like that. He’d have to ask Shinra about it sooner or later just to appease his curiosity.

“Shut up,” Shizuo grumbled over a mouth full of parfait, scowling all the while because he did not want to admit he was slightly enjoying himself despite his company. The Flea had been oddly quiet, and very suspiciously normal throughout their date so far, but Shizuo can’t really say what is and isn’t normal since technically speaking this was his first date.

He could feel the stares that were sent their way that Shizuo didn’t seem to notice; even though they were in the quieter side of Ikebukuro, there were still prying eyes looking at them excitedly and in anticipation. Pulling his phone out, Izaya quickly checked the DOLLARS website and clicked on the thread that was dedicated to his and Shizuo’s so called relationship. Much to his pleasure, there were no new notifications, meaning to say that the people staring at them now did not recognize them.

His suspicions were confirmed the moment a pair of girls approached their table, giving each of them a coy look that also went unnoticed by Shizuo. What a dense man. “May we help you?” Izaya asked in a very polite sounding tone and with a very uncharacteristic smile on his face.

Shizuo had the decency to at least wipe his lips with a tissue before sipping quietly at his drink. He didn’t really do well talking to strangers unless he was mad at them, and the fact that they were pretty girls made him just a little bit nervous. He hoped that Izaya would do all the talking like he always did.

“Ano…” one girl started, fidgeting slightly and it seemed like she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “Uh! We need an extra chair, d…do you mind if we took yours?” she asked, jabbing her elbow against her friend in embarrassment.

Izaya knew it was a lie; these girls just wanted an excuse to talk to them, which was actually quite fine by his standards. He could ask them questions that will have them thinking and then watch their reactions as they struggled to find an answer that was true (or maybe not?) but socially acceptable. Just as he was about to invite them to sit with them, Shizuo had already pulled out the extra seat and offered it to the girl. He even had the gallantry to escort the girls to their table and helped them get seated as if he were a butler. 

“ _Wow_ ,” Izaya stated again as Shizuo returned to his seat. “You really are a gentleman, huh?” he asked, smiling as Shizuo grumbled something out in reply and opted to continue eating his parfait instead. “No good, no good! You’re my boyfriend, Shizu-chan! We can’t have girls swarming all over you!” Izaya said loud enough for the girls to hear and he was satisfied to see their scandalized faces. 

Shizuo spluttered, his words trying to claw their way out of his throat only to die on his lips. He wanted to say “what the fuck!” or “we’re not boyfriends!”

Somehow, Izaya could tell what he was trying to say. “We are boyfriends,” he reiterated. “We’re on a date. You introduced me to your friends.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re my boyfriend!!” Shizuo whispered harshly. “We—We’re just dating!”

“Oh goodness. You’re so old fashioned, Милый” (my pretty one) Izaya teased lightly but before Shizuo could retort with some angry reply, something caught Izaya’s eye and he went dead silent.

Shizuo turned his head around to look at whatever it was that Izaya was looking at but found nothing out of the ordinary. “Something wrong?” He asked begrudgingly, looking back at Izaya who had this neutral look to his face aside from the fact that his eyes looked sharper than they usually were.

He placed a few bills on the table, standing up slowly like he was in no hurry. Shizuo downed his drink very quickly before following Izaya out the café, trailing behind him like a puppy following his master.

“Oi, Flea!” Shizuo all but yelled and he truly wasn’t expecting Izaya to stop so the moment the informant stopped at the call of his nickname, Shizuo accidentally bumped into his back and they stumbled to the ground like an uncoordinated dance routine.

Shizuo pushed himself up, Izaya laying on his front beneath him. He was not aware of how incriminating their positions looked. “Oi, are you alright?”

“Yes, yes,” Izaya said, pushing up as well only for the back of his head to hit Shizuo’s face. “Ow!”

After they pulled themselves off the ground, Izaya’s eyes scanned the area quickly before finding his target one more. He followed after them in a casual walk, stuffing his hands into his pocket to look nonchalant.

Shizuo followed suit, this time walking by Izaya’s side instead of behind him. “What the hell?”

“Ah, yes,” Izaya said, only just then realizing that he was supposed to be on a date with Shizuo. “Change of plans, you see. I know I promised you a movie after lunch but something came up,” he explained, carefully pointing with his chin a man in a gaudy looking suit. “Work things, you see. And while I did clear my schedule for today for our date, I can’t let this opportunity pass. I’m sure you’ll understand this, Shizu-chan.”

Shizuo frowned. “You can’t just ditch me now,” because he was in unfamiliar territory and he was almost half afraid he would get lost without Izaya’s help.

Izaya pondered the situation for a moment. It would be best if he were to stay undetected and he supposed it would look very suspicious if he were alone and if worst came to worst, he could use Shizuo as a distraction. “Well, okay…” he said almost hesitantly. “We can play spy.”

Playing spy was easy enough; they followed the suspicious looking man while having a conversation ( _“Do you think you could defeat the Hulk?” “I can relate to the Hulk, I don’t want to fight him”_ ) to appear less conspicuous. Even though Izaya was actually truly invested in his conversation with Shizuo, his eyes still stayed locked on the man.

Shizuo found it odd that they were having such a normal conversation even though they were supposed to be stalking that businessman. He couldn’t help but wonder if these were the sorts of conversations they would have had if they were friends in high school. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Izaya asked, tearing his eyes away from his target momentarily to look at Shizuo.

“Which Marvel hero do you relate to?” he asked, letting his eyes stray to their target just in case Izaya’s distractedness caused them to loose sight of him. “Or maybe villain? You’re kind of an asshole.”

“Hmm, I wonder,” Izaya replied in pensive silence, rubbing his chin in thought. “Deadpool,” he replied almost immediately after his thoughtful chin rub.

“Who?” Shizuo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, he’s not as well known as the other characters,” the informant waved his hand dismissively. “But all you need to know is he is neither bad or good, but he is, as you say, an asshole. Plus, he’s immortal! How neat would that be? Ah, I’d rather be without the scars but if it is a necessary evil then so be it!”

Shizuo hummed in thought, making a mental note to himself to ask Tom or Kasuka if they had any comics with Deadpool.

 

“Oh dear,” Izaya murmured quietly to himself but Shizuo still caught his exclamation of disdain. “He’s going into a love hotel… Either he’s meeting someone there in the guise of love making or he’s hired someone to sleep with him,” he spoke as if he was speaking to himself, but really he was explaining it to Shizuo. He stopped several meters in front of the cheap-looking hotel, pondering for a moment how to handle the situation.

“Why are you so interested in that guy, anyway?” Shizuo asked, a frown tugging at his lips as he stared at the questionable building. “Does he owe you money or something? I can rough him up or whatever,” Shizuo offered offhandedly, reaching for a cigarette (but let out a frustrated noise when Izaya slapped the cigarette away). 

“No, not money,” Izaya said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I was hired by a client to gather some information on him and like I said, I couldn’t pass up the chance. This saves me time looking for him,” he said and, nodding to himself, he made his way towards the building. “Come on, Shizu-chan! It’ll be weird if I went into a love hotel alone!” 

Despite the innuendo, Shizuo followed.

Sure enough when they entered they saw the man with his arm wrapped around a woman who seemed deeply interested in him. They were already making their way to the elevators and thankfully Izaya was able to catch the number of their room key. “Shizu-chan,” he whispered, grabbing the blond by the elbow before pulling him close. “I need you to be a distraction for a moment, okay?”

“Wait, what?” Shizuo asked but before he could get his answer, Izaya had pushed him hard enough to make him stumble. He fell backwards and into one of the old looking couches, his head landing right on top of a woman’s lap. Much to Shizuo’s dismay, the lady’s boyfriend let out a disgruntled “get off my woman!”

The lobbyist quickly jumped over the counter to diffuse the situation and Izaya mentally thanked no one in particular for the lack of staff. He jumped over the counter and checked the login book to see if there was anyone occupying the room beside the businessman’s room. Unfortunately it was occupied and it seemed that there were no other rooms on that floor that were free. 

Jumping over the counter once more, Izaya made his way to his date and waved his arms in a placating manner before Shizuo could blow a fuse and throw the man screaming at him out the window. “Hey, hey, what’s the trouble here?” he gave Shizuo a pointed look, one that said “leave the talking to me.”

“This asshole here was feelin’ up my gal!” the man yelled, standing in front of the woman in a very protective manner. Izaya could tell that the man was much older than the woman, and by the way the woman was giving Shizuo an appreciative one over he deduced that she was a gold digger.

“Oh, that’s not possible,” Izaya sing-songed delightfully, grabbing Shizuo’s hand in his own. “He is my boyfriend, after all, and he is in no way interested in women,” he explained as he possessively hugged Shizuo’s arm to his chest. “And he’s rather clumsy, you see. He must have tripped while he was waiting for me.”

The lobbyist apologized profusely to the angered man and his girlfriend, and he was distracted enough not to notice as Izaya and Shizuo stumbled into the elevator.

“What the fuck, Izaya?!” Shizuo yelled over the annoying elevator music. “At least fucking tell me before you do something like that. I was about to punch his goddamned face in, that insufferable man. I bet he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about. Love? Hah. As if. What a deluded asshole.” 

Shizuo continued to rant about how upset he was with people who thought they were in love and how carelessly they tossed the word around. Izaya found it amusing, and could easily understand why Shizuo was always so upset with his work as a bodyguard for Tanaka-san.

“Oh, Shizu-chan. You really are an old man,” Izaya laughed amiably as the elevator bell dinged at their floor.

They both got out and Izaya walked down the hallway until he spotted the room he was looking for. He was just about to press his ear against the door when the second elevator door chimed. He immediately opened the broom closet beside the target room and shoved Shizuo in, following after him shortly.

 

 

**[Present time, in a cramped broom closet]**

 

 

“This is a shitty date,” Shizuo muttered unhappily.

“I wanted to watch that movie,” Shizuo continued to mutter unhappily to an unresponsive Izaya.

“And then there’s dinner, you promised me dinner too,” he added, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“This is the worst date ever,” Shizuo concluded.

Izaya raised a hand to silence him, listening intently to the very business like conversation going on in the other room. “This is the only date you've ever been to. And besides, we can still do that,” Izaya hissed. “Just be patient, this wont take long.”

“We’ve been in here for an hour already!”

“Shh!”

Izaya had caught the gist of the conversation anyway, but he didn’t want to leave without hearing all of it. Thankfully he was always prepared so he reached into his pocket for a small recording device and his flick blade. Slowly and carefully, he began to drill a hole into the wall with the tip of his blade, making it wide enough for the recording device to fit. He pushed the device in and checked if he was receiving the data on his phone.

“You really are a stalker,” Shizuo mumbled with a shake of his head, like he was disappointed.

“It’s my job, Shizu-chan,” Izaya replied with a laugh.

 

 

**[Later that evening]**

 

 

The rest of the day went flawlessly, oddly enough.

Shizuo thoroughly enjoyed the movie, while Izaya thoroughly enjoyed watching the crowd watching the movie. 

They had dinner at a ramen bar, continuing their conversation regarding superheroes and comic books, to people they mutually hated in high school, to how odd Shinra was during both grade school and middle school (from his apartment, Shinra let out a particularly loud sneeze despite the fact he didn’t have a cold). At some point they started telling each other little snippets from their childhood, like how Izaya almost accidentally burned his own house down in an attempt to cook, and how Shizuo accidentally broke the bathroom sink and cried because he though his mother would get mad at him.

They ended the night with a stroll in the park before heading back for Shizuo’s apartment.

Shizuo stood at his doorway, torn between inviting Izaya in and calling it a night. Izaya wasn’t that bad as company, as long as he didn’t bring up any annoying topics or relentlessly made fun of him. In fact, that had been one of the most normal interactions he’s had in a very long time (disregarding the broom closet, of course). He gulped down the odd feeling clawing at his chest, and thankfully Izaya piped in before he could make a fool of himself.

“I have to get going,” the informant said with a smile. “Work to do, data to compile and all that.”

“I thought you said you had a secretary?” Shizuo questioned, leaning his hip against the door frame.

“Ah, that I do and though she is very much competent, I’d rather sort through this data first before her. Hm, think of it as I am excited to do my work!” he cheered quietly, not wanting to break the peaceful atmosphere that had somehow fallen upon them.

Shizuo scoffed. “Yes, of course.”

Izaya let out a fond sounding sort of noise. With a finger curling towards himself, he gestured for Shizuo to come closer. When the blond did, Izaya lifted himself up on his tiptoes before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before rubbing their noses together briefly. “Спокойной ночи. Сладких снов, мой дорогой” (Good night. Sweet dreams, my dear).

Shizuo stood there dumbfounded, his face as read as a tomato as Izaya walked away with a wave of his hand. “до свидания,” (good bye), Shizuo muttered awkwardly, and he swears to god that his heart did not skip a beat when Izaya turned around to give him an impressed smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus:
> 
> Throughout their whole date, several talent scouts approached them and asked if they were interested in becoming models or actors. A lot of girls were sneaking photos of them as well. The only reason Shizuo didn't flip the fuck out is because Izaya did all of the talking when talent scouts approached and he was too distracted with his conversation with Izaya to notice all the stolen photos.  
> \--
> 
> I was also fretting about updating, because I couldn't think of what would happen in this chapter and I didn't want to not update after a week. Again, posting this unedited because I'm too lazy to double check for mistakes.


	8. Old Flame

Back in middle school and high school it was not unusual for Izaya to drop by Shinra’s place to get patched up, have a study session, and even on some rare days they hung out and watched television and acted like normal teenaged boys. As they grew up, of course, Izaya dropped by less and less but Shinra didn’t really particularly mind; he had Celty anyway and as long as he had her then he didn’t really care what would happen to anyone else.

It was a pretty selfish mindset, but Shinra didn’t really care what others thought about him.

“Are you hurt or something?” Shinra asked Izaya as they lounged in the kitchen, Shinra shuffling about as he prepared coffee while Izaya watched. “Or do you need something? It’s rare that you drop by so I can only assume as such!” he said with his usual goofy smile as he handed over a mug of coffee to Izaya.

The informant accepted it greatfully, smiling over the rim of his mug before taking a sip. “You’re so cruel, Shinra. I consider you a friend you know, and it’s only natural for friends to want to see each other, isn’t it?”

“You’re far from natural, though!” Shinra said bluntly, leaning against the counter while facing Izaya. Though he wasn’t really thinking it, Shinra was actually glad that Izaya was there and speaking to him normally. It felt nostalgic and he kind of missed the days when things were simpler.

Izaya snorted, sitting on the counter across from Shinra. “You’re one to talk,” he teased, nudging Shinra’s knee with the tip of his borrowed slippers.

“Ah, what’s the saying? Birds of the same feather flock together, or something like that?” Shinra laughed amiably as he shook his head.

They sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the warmth of their coffees in the cold weather.

“Celty should be home any minute now,” Shinra said as he checked his wristwatch. “To be honest, she doesn’t really like you that much so I’d like it if you left. Ah, but I doubt you’re going to leave even if I begged, so the least you could do is try not to be too annoying,” he laughed, picking up the coffee pot and raised it. “More coffee?”

“Please,” Izaya said, offering his coffee mug for a refill.

“Shinra…” Izaya started once his mug was returned. “I did come here for a reason,” he said and it lacked his usual playful tone that didn’t go unnoticed by the doctor but he chose to stay quiet about it. “I need to talk to you.”

“You’re already talking to me,” Shinra scoffed but didn’t tease any further because it sounded like Izaya was serious and it was rare for Izaya to be serious. “If this is about Celty’s head or something…”

“I’m dating Shizuo,” Izaya explained, his eyes scanning Shinra’s face to gauge his reaction and he’s a little bit disappointed to see that there wasn’t much of a reaction at all. “And, ah, I suppose you could say that I’m looking for some sense of closure from you, much as I hate to admit it. I don’t think I can push through with dating that beast unless I settle some things with you.”

“Shizuo, huh? I knew it was bound to happen someday,” Shinra replied as if he had known all along that they were meant to be. “That’s good, my two horrible friends are finally getting together. Although I don’t really know why you’d need to settle something with me. I’m not your father or anything, and you certainly are not my precious child,” Shinra said as he adjusted his glasses and gave out a stern sounding voice. “Heiwajima-kun, I wont allow you to date my precious daughter! Something like that?"

“I like you, Shinra,” Izaya said abruptly. “Well, to be more precise I _liked_ you,” the informant confessed without a trace of embarrassment or shame. If anything, all he felt was determination and even a little bit excited at finally admitting to something he couldn’t do when he was younger. He felt lighter, like some invisible weight on his shoulders finally dropped.

Shinra sighed almost a little sadly. He had been acutely aware of Izaya’s feelings towards him for a very long time but he never brought it up because he didn’t think that he needed to. Izaya was cagey and secretive when it came to how he really felt and there might have been this strange feeling of pride swelling within him at the thought that Izaya was being completely honest with him.

He could be lying though, but for some reason Shinra knew he wasn’t.

“That was in the past,” Shinra conceded. “Why are you suddenly bringing this up?”

“Closure,” Izaya explained briefly, hopping off the counter so that he could approach his friend. “I’ve liked you for a long time, and it’s kind of frustrating that I did even though I knew you were so desperately in love with Celty,” he continued, trapping Shinra against the counter as he placed both hands on either side of him. “I tried to crush those feelings before they got too out of hand and let me tell you it was a perilous process.”

“That’s sad to hear,” Shinra said facetiously, not minding in the very least that he was trapped. “Ah, if only it was Celty trapping me instead of you, I think I could die of happiness.”

“Let me kiss you,” Izaya said with a smile to match Shinra’s. “It’s been something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“You’re so forward,” Shinra laughed but saw no harm in giving Izaya what he wanted especially if it gave him closure. “But alright! I don’t mind. Maybe Celty will walk in and get really jealous, so it’s a win-win situation either way.”

Izaya scoffed but laughed nonetheless. “Indeed.”

So he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Shinra’s, their noses bumping and their foreheads touching in a way that was painfully intimate and innocent. The kiss lasted no longer than three seconds, and the only reason Izaya pulled back was because there was a tendril of darkness that wrapped around his waist before violently tugging him away from Shinra. He was being lifted off the ground and all he could think of was how soft Shinra’s lips were and how he probably looked like a cucumber with how he was dangling from a shadow-like vine. “Ah, welcome home Courier,” he greeted like nothing was wrong.

“You’re home!” Shinra exclaimed like a child, his arms already thrown open in preparation to give Celty a hug. “I’ve missed you so much, my deares--OW!” He yelped as Celty’s fist collided with his stomach, but it was a pain he was already familiar with. “Ah, are you jealou—ow!”

Celty began to type many broken sentences onto her PDA, showing flustered and upset messages at Shinra as Izaya watched the scene with an almost bored expression. He wasn’t bored, however, and he was instead contemplating his feelings now that he had gotten what he wanted from Shinra; it was something that he never thought he would get and the fact that he had gotten it felt an awful lot like a victory.

“Courier,” Izaya called over the commotion of Shinra yelping in pain. He was actually a little glad that most of Celty’s frustrations were directed at Shinra instead of him. “I’d appreciate it if you let me down now, I’ve got some work to attend to.”

Celty turned away from Shinra then, typing into her PDA for a very angry message to be delivered. She practically shoved it in Izaya’s face and Izaya had a particularly difficult time reading it upside down. **[I don't really nunderstand what ahppyend but i get the feeling that you oire up to no good. Don't yo uever kiss shinra again! >:(((((((]** She was so frustrated she didn’t even notice the many typographical errors she made.

“Yes, yes,” Izaya said with a roll of his shoulders and, after a few long seconds, the shadows around him dissipated and he gracefully landed on the ground. “Don’t think too much about it, Courier,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand as he made his way towards the exit. But before he left “Thank you very much for that kiss, Shinra. And by the way, Celty-san,” and he called her by her name this time and relished in the fact that she bristled in annoyance. “Shinra’s lips are very warm and soft.”

Though Izaya got punched in the face via Celty, he didn’t feel an ounce of regret.

\-------

Usually it was Shizuo who did most of the complaining whenever he and Celty met up to just sit with each other, but he found it a little bit odd that he was reading an incredibly long wall of text from Celty’s phone.

“You’re going in circles,” Shizuo said after he read the message. “Why are you mad at Shinra?”

[I caught him kissing Izaya!]

Shizuo blinked. “Kissing… Izaya?” he echoed, a very odd feeling bubbling at the pit of his stomach. “Why would… Why would Izaya do that?”

Celty shook her helmet, shrugging her shoulders as she typed out a reply. [I don’t know! What I don’t understand is why Shinra would let him do that!] her fingers went back down to typing a new message. [I punched Izaya in the face though, and that kind of felt really good.]

She was expecting Shizuo to laugh at that, but instead she was greeted with silence that didn’t sit well with her. She was sensing that Shizuo was getting angry, but she wasn’t particularly sure why he would feel that way. [Are you alright, Shizuo?]

Shizuo stood up then, his body feeling stiff with barely contained rage; the bubbling feeling in his stomach only grew more violent, boiling over until it felt like he would be suffocating unless he let out his anger on something, _anything_. “I’m going to punch something,” he said calmly. “Sorry, Celty. I’ll see you later.”

He didn’t know what the feeling was, but it felt a whole lot like anger but he didn’t know what he was angry at. Was he angry because Izaya kissed someone else? Or was it because Izaya kissed Shinra when he knows that Shinra and Celty are practically married? Was Izaya trying to break them apart? That was probably it, he was angry on Celty’s behalf. Definitely.

He was not jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! This is a short chapter.
> 
> I am very fond of Izaya/Shinra, friendship wise and romantically.  
> But also Jealous!Celty and Jealous!Shizuo is cute.
> 
> (Shout out to Allie for helping me fix the Russian conversations! Thank you so much my dear!)


	9. Conversations

Years and years of observing humans in different situations, placed in different environments, with different types of people have sharpened Izaya’s understanding of human emotions; he’s keen to pick up signs and little ticks from people to understand what kind of person they are and it’s become easy for him to predict their next course of action. He was exceedingly happy when his predictions were correct but there were times when his humans surpass his expectations, which is the biggest delight he could ever be blessed with.

Shizuo, for a very long time now, has always been contradicting his expectations; as much as he’d love to say that Shizuo was a monster and therefore far too different from humans to be appreciated, he hates to admit that the beast has been very interesting as of late. If one were to ask Izaya why the sudden change of heart, it would be because of the current situation he found himself in.

Shizuo was ignoring him.

The last time Shizuo had ignored him was when they were in high school and it was his futile attempt at maintaining peace. Of course Shizuo’s patience wore thin almost immediately (around ten minutes of ignoring him, really) so Izaya found it incredibly odd that Shizuo had been avoiding him for a week now, going as far as declining the calls that Izaya made.

If it were any other human, Izaya would have thought that Shizuo was mad at him but he couldn’t figure out why. Was there really a reason or was Shizuo just very busy? (highly unlikely, since Izaya has tabs on Shizuo and he knows the bodyguard’s schedule like the back of his hand). But it was preposterous to think Shizuo was angry since he wore his heart on his sleeve; if he were mad at Izaya, he would have called him out on it already.

Izaya would have dealt with the “problem” sooner, but he was too busy to personally check up on Shizuo (which is an absolute lie, Orihara Izaya just doesn’t like it when he has to breach a situation that he doesn’t fully understand and he might have been avoiding it like a high school student procrastinating on his homework).

“You have the day off,” Namie told him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

The informant spun in his swivel chair slowly as if in thought before shooting his secretary a cocky smile. “I’m pretty sure I’m the boss here, and I can choose when my off days are,” he said, stopping his spinning abruptly to stare at her with a raised eyebrow in silent question.

“I’m telling you to get out and to stop sulking,” she said bluntly as she tore a page out of the notebook that was on her desk, facing him and mirroring his expression. “Honestly, you’re like a child sometimes.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Namie-san,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a carefree look on his face.

“You know perfectly well,” she rolled her eyes, walking over to him before placing a ripped out page from one of her notebooks on his desk. She tapped her nail against it, pointing at the schedule that was written down. “I’ve moved your meetings for today to a later date and your underlings will relay whatever data they gather to me for compilation.”

Izaya picked up the schedule and looked mildly surprised. “Wow, you’ve managed to reschedule with Shiki-san? I’m rather impressed,” he admitted as he took in his new schedule for tomorrow before folding the piece of paper neatly and then carefully shoved it into his pants pocket. “Dare I ask why you’re doing this?”

“It’s pitiful to see a rapport go to waste,” Namie explained with a huff, sitting at his desk as she shuffled through some papers that were scattered around. “Even if it’s you and that beast of a man, love is love and quite frankly you’re not putting much effort into your relationship with him.”

Izaya sighed in what seemed like defeat and bowed his head down until his forehead collided with the top of his desk with a soft thud. “You make it sound as if I were truly in love with that man,” he grumbled quietly before sighing despondently. “You look so lowly on your employer, I ought to dock your pay for your insubordination.”

“You’re so indolent when it comes to him, I might actually shed a tear on your behalf,” she sneered, because apparently the only way Namie could interact with Izaya is with aggravated tones and heavy sarcasm. “Show some compassion or something of the likes. Love is a force that shouldn’t be trifled with or tossed aside like trash,” she continued to berate him because if there was one thing that Namie truly believed in, it wasn’t in the science that never proved her wrong, but in love. She believed in the power of love, and even someone like Izaya could be capable of love, right?

“Is this your rare way of showing solicitude? Ahh, I’m flattered. I think my heart is overflowing with warmth,” he said very dramatically, reclining in his seat as his arm flew up to rest over his eyes. “I knew you loved me, I just knew it.”

“I will serve you raw fish heads for a week if you ever utter those words again,” Namie threatened, her eyes narrowing to slits in controlled annoyance.

Izaya bristled before going stiff and frowned. “Don’t do that,” he grumbled.

Namie smiled at her small victory and jumped off his desk gracefully. “Now go tame the beast you despicable man,” she told him, jerking his swivel chair to the side in an attempt to get him off. “I can’t work with you when you’re like this.”

Knowing it was a chore to argue with Namie over trivial matters such as love, Izaya shrugged his shoulders in defeat before pulling his coat on. He was pretty curious about what was going on through Shizuo’s mind and the information network that he has that revolves around him can’t provide him with substantial intelligence. The best way to deal with Shizuo would be in person, it would seem, because aside from his anger, the man doesn’t show a wide range of emotions, at least not in front of him.

He dropped by one of the small fancy cake shops in Shinjuku, buying a small chocolate cake for Shizuo in case he needed to be calmed down (Izaya had discovered that small gifts are an easy way to appease the physical epitome of violence that was Shizuo Heiwajima). As he boarded the line to Ikebukuro, Izaya couldn’t help but feel like he was getting ready for war and unfortunately he couldn’t sit back and watch. He was an active player this time and he wasn’t as used to that as compared to when he was younger.

He hit Ikebukuro’s streets, checking his phones for information regarding Shizuo’s whereabouts. In about no time at all, Izaya was already making his way to Shinra’s apartment where apparently Shizuo was. Unfortunately, according to his sources, it would seem that the otaku duo, Vorona and even his sisters had tagged along with him. Izaya grumbled despondently, trying to think of the best course of action while he walked until he found himself standing in front of the apartment building.

He didn’t want to take the front door because it felt like walking into a starved lion’s den so he walked around to the fire escape instead, jumping up the stairs two steps at a time like a child if only to delay his fated confrontation with the mess of people currently invading Shinra’s home. His shoes clicked and echoed in the empty stairwell as he climbed slowly, and Izaya was briefly wondering if he should consult some love guru first for some advice.

He wondered if he should chance a call with Kida-kun, but immediately tossed that idea out the moment it was born. Kida-kun, despite his skirt chasing ways, was incredibly loyal and devoted to Saki and hated him with a burning passion. To ask him would be like asking a wall, except a wall would be a better conversation partner because sometimes Kida let his anger take control and it was no fun being on the receiving end of screaming.

As quietly as humanely possible, he padded onto Shinra’s floor. Celty, apparently, was currently doing a job for Shiki-san so he was safe from her supernatural senses. He continued down the hall, stopping in front of his friend’s door before pressing his ear against it, straining to hear the conversation going on inside.

 _“Kyaahahaha! According to what we’ve heard from Shizu-shizu, there’s some sort of love triangle—no! A love square going on between Izayan, Kishitani-sensei, the Black Rider and Shizu-shizu! Ahh, Shinzaya isn’t a popular ship at all but I can already imagine all the possibilities!”_ Karisawa all but squealed and though Izaya was more or less used to her antics he couldn’t help but make a disgusted face at the fantasies she was sure to have about him and the people who are technically his friends. 

Izaya had to keep his voice back as he heard his sister’s voice overtake the conversation. _”I knew it, Iza-nii is bisexual after all!”_ The eldest Orihara made a face before shaking his head in disbelief at the fact that his sisters apparently have discussions regarding his sexuality.

 _"Pansexual,”_ Kururi’s quiet voice added, Mairu and Karisawa screaming in agreement.

Amidst the noise, Izaya heard Shizuo’s equally quiet _”What’s pansexual? He likes pans?”_ and Izaya tried his best not to laugh as Vorona went into a detailed explanation of pansexuality.

_”Kishitani-sensei, you’ve known Izayan for a long time, right?! Right?!? Surely you must have some interesting stories!”_

_”His sex life!”_ Mairu added. _”Do you think Iza-nii ever engaged in a threesome!? Maybe even an orgy?!?”_

Izaya rubbed a frustrated hand over his face as the conversation inside continued. He couldn’t possibly go in now, not when his sisters and Karisawa were in there and talking about his fictitious private life. They’d surely hound him for answers that he didn’t want to share even if they paid him all the money in the world.

So he retreated back into the fire escape, sitting at the stairs in quiet contemplation. He could call Shizuo, but the possibilities of the blond ignoring him were high. Worst-case scenario would be Mairu or Karisawa taking Shizuo’s phone to interrogate him but he reasoned that he could always hang up. Izaya sighed again; if he waited any longer the cake’s icing might melt.

Reluctantly, he pulled out his phone and sent a message to the only person he could think of that could help.

 

**Sender: Orihara Izaya  
** Subject: A plea for help  
Message: If it’s not too much trouble, Courier, do you have any idea why Shizu-chan is ignoring me? 

**Sender: Courier  
** Subject: Why?  
Message: I didn’t know he was ignoring you. When did this start, exactly? 

**Sender: Orihara Izaya  
** Subject: Re:Why?  
Message: A week ago exactly. 

**Sender: Courier  
** Subject: …  
Message: …Recall what happened last week. I’ve told him what happened. 

**Sender: Courier  
** Subject: Was it a secret?  
Message: You two are supposedly dating, so you shouldn’t be keeping secrets from him. 

**Sender: Orihara Izaya  
** Subject: Hypocrite  
Message: Everyone has a secret or two to keep and regardless of the nature of the relationship they might have with others, they have the right to withhold information especially if it is unnecessary to be talked about. 

**Sender: Courier  
** Subject: You’re horrible  
Message: This is a relationship. If you want it to work out, you shouldn’t keep secrets. Explain to him what happened and why you did it. I’m sure he’ll understand. 

 

Izaya sighed as he leaned back against the concrete stairs, a small frown on his face. “Ah, she truly is a hypocrite.” 

 

 

**[Meanwhile, inside a noisy apartment…]**

 

 

“…So a person who is pansexual likes everyone?” Shizuo questioned, his lungs itching for a cigarette but he didn’t bother to make a grab for one. He didn’t want the twins to fall victim to second hand smoke after all. “And Izaya-kun is pansexual?”

“That is not it in its entirety,” Vorona explained over Mairu, Karisawa and even Shinra’s messy explanation of the word. “If a person is pansexual, they are willing to undergo intercourse regardless of their partner’s gender. However, a person who is pansexual may or may not experience any romantic attraction to the person they are _“having the hot yaois”_ with,” Vorona concluded, using her fingers to draw quotation marks in the air and Karisawa gave her a thumbs up.

“Ah...” Yumasaki added helpfully, his palm pressed against his forehead as he shook his head. While he was happy that he was able to spend time with the voluptuous little crow, he did not get to do much of the talking since Karisawa was much too invested in explaining the likes of shounen-ai and yaoi to her.

“To be honest, I’ve always assumed Izaya-kun was aromantic,” Shinra added his own opinion, rubbing his chin in thought. “Well, that is until… Ah, well. It’s probably best if I didn’t divulge in that,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Though he and Izaya weren’t what most people would call “best friends,” he couldn’t help but feel like he should keep what happened between them a secret. But he had already opened the gates of hell, and Karisawa and Mairu and even Kururi were around him instantly.

“We used to think that too!” Mairu chirped excitedly.

“What… modification...?” (What made you change your mind?) Kururi asked, tilting her head to the side as she watched Shinra’s face in anticipation.

Karisawa was so caught up in the moment that she couldn’t talk, but thankfully the twins already asked the questions she wanted answers to. The three girls waited expectantly while Shinra realized that he dug his own grave.

“Aromantic?” Shizuo echoed, completely ignoring the three girls. “Perfume?” He asked, giving Vorona a very confused look.

Yumasaki was the one who interjected then before Vorona could answer. “It’s when you don’t feel any romantic feelings towards anyone,” he explained, leaning more towards the two blonds and away from the noisy group of ladies who were circling around Shinra like vultures. “If a person is aromantic, they do not experience falling in love with other people, at least not in the romantic sense.”

“You see, Shizuo-san, there are different types of love,” Yumasaki explained, sounding very informative despite his whimsical way of speaking. “You love your brother but you do not love him the same way you would love a woman. There are different types of love according to the ancient Greeks: _Agápe, Éros, Philia, Ludus, Pragma, Storge_ and _Philiautia._ ” He continued to explain with plenty gesticulations and jargons that flew over Shizuo’s head while Vorona looked on, slightly impressed with the otaku’s extensive knowledge on the topic of love.

Shizuo continued to be confused and stood up, walking to the kitchen to fetch himself a glass of water. The twins and Karisawa were shaking Shinra for answers while Yumasaki and Vorona continued to discuss the different types of love (and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit happy that his kohai was making friends, even if those friends were the weird otaku duo).

He sighed to himself and sipped his water. He came to Shinra’s place to ask the doctor what happened, because Celty didn’t understand what happened either. He was hoping to get answers but all he got were explanations that barely made sense to him and now he had more questions than before.

His phone vibrated in his pocket twice, indicating a message. He pulled it out, expecting it to be spam, but much to his surprise he got an unknown number.

 

**Sender: xxx-xxxx  
** Subject: It’s so noisy  
Message: So please come out! But be as discreet as possible, ♡Shizu-chan♡! 

 

His eye twitched slightly at the message but before he could reply or even let out a frustrated noise, his phone vibrated again with a new message.

 

**Sender: xxx-xxxx  
** Subject: Hurry!  
Message: Don’t ignore me this time, ♡Shizu-chan♡. I’ll wait for you at the fire escape. 

 

He almost crushed the cup in his hand but he managed to refrain himself from doing so. He didn’t want anyone to notice him (not because Izaya had asked him to, but because if he drew attention to himself the twins and Karisawa would move from Shinra to him. Shinra would have to be sacrificed). 

As carefully as he could possibly manage, Shizuo skirted around the group of people and down the hall to the entrance, carefully pulling his shoes on before exiting. Much to his delight, no one noticed him at all and he immediately made his way towards the fire escape. Sure enough, there Izaya was with a grin on his face, sitting on the steps with a plastic bag beside him.

“You made it,” he said, he said in a soft-spoken manner, instead of projecting his voice like he usually did and Shizuo couldn’t help but like the way he spoke at that moment. “I was afraid you’d ignore me.”

“Tch…” Shizuo said, reaching for his pack of cigarettes but stopped when Izaya gave him a pointed look. “I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“Oh, you definitely were,” Izaya said playfully, a cheerful smile plastered across his face. “There’s no need to lie to me, Shizu-chan. I’ll find out the truth eventually, and in this case I already have,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders before patting the spot next to him. “Join me.”

Shizuo sighed but relented and sat down next to Izaya, an awkward silence falling upon them.

So it was true, he was ignoring Izaya. But he didn’t know why he was doing it; he wasn’t mad at him, at least he didn’t think he was, because if he were mad he would have punched his face (which Celty had already done last week). No, the feeling that overcame him when he found out that Izaya and Shinra shared a kiss was foreign to him, something that he might have felt back when he was younger so he couldn’t quite remember what the word for it was.

Even though he was ignoring Izaya, there were times that Shizuo had wanted to call him to… Talk. It was weird, since talking wasn’t really his strong point and talking with Izaya was something he rarely did.

The feeling was overwhelming; he wanted to talk to Izaya but he didn’t know what they would be talking about which was ultimately confusing. It made him feel a little bit anxious as well, which lead him to ignoring Izaya instead of addressing the problem.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the plastic bag was placed in his lap. He looked at Izaya for some sort of answer but the informant only smiled at him and shook his head. Shizuo rolled his eyes before pulling out the box that was in the plastic bag and opened it, snorting a little bit in amusement at the small chocolate cake that he was presented with. “What’s this for?”

“To appease the beast,” Izaya said, a truly roundabout way of apology. “I have a story to tell you, so eat your cake and listen.”

Shizuo ate his cake quietly, listening to Izaya as the informant told him why he kissed Shinra last week.

“But… You wouldn’t kiss him again, would you?” Shizuo questioned, looking everywhere else instead of at Izaya. He felt calm and a whole lot better now that he had spoken to Izaya and Izaya was still speaking in that quiet way of his, like he was whispering but it was loud enough to hear. Shizuo can’t help but think it’s nice, but he has to push that thought away because Izaya was still talking to him.

“Probably not,” Izaya said with a nod of his head, his hand reaching over to cup Shizuo’s face. He rubbed the pad of his thumb against the corner of Shizuo’s lips, wiping away the chocolate icing that was there. “You’re incredibly messy when you eat.”

Shizuo’s face burned red at the innocent touch and he pulled away from Izaya’s cool hand. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” Izaya asked, licking the chocolate that was on his thumb now.

“Don’t kiss anyone else.”

Izaya blinked, his own face tinting a light shade of pink as he let out a soft chuckle that made Shizuo gulp. “No one but you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Types of love that Yumasaki was talking about:
> 
> Éros - sexual passion  
> Philia - deep friendship  
> Ludus - playful love  
> Agápe - love for everyone  
> Pragma - longstanding love  
> Philautia - love of the self  
> Storge - love between family


	10. Siblings

Though the Orihara siblings were never really that close to begin with due to the age gap, there was no denying that the three of them felt some sort of kinship towards one another. Izaya would argue that he didn’t really sense a familial bond between him and the twins at all but he was unaware of the slight protectiveness he felt towards them and the twins never pointed it out in the name of protecting their brother’s pride.

They never really interacted much with one another either, since Izaya was always busy (or at least he claimed to be, the twins have yet to verify if it was true or not) and the twins didn’t bother themselves with the life of someone who declared that he did not care for them especially even if they came out from the same womb and lived under the same roof for several years. They didn’t mind it really, because even if he didn’t see them as his sisters aside from the literal meaning of the word, they saw him as their brother no matter how horrible he may be to them.

However, things have changed; something new has sparked in the life of Orihara Izaya and the twins are determined to get involved in their brother’s life whether he wants them to or not. Which is why they were there at nine in the evening, knocking politely at his apartment door despite knowing the code to unlock the door and having an extra key card that Namie had given them ages ago if only to be polite. “Your beloved sisters are here!” Mairu cheered happily as Kururi peered intently at the hidden camera that she had found. “So open up, big brother of ours!”

No response.

Mairu rolled her eyes, thinking it absolutely ridiculous that her brother would play the “if I’m quiet enough maybe they’ll think I’m not here” game. She knocked harder, Kururi already reaching inside her pockets for the key card. The quietest Orihara punched in the code and used the key, smiling at her sister the moment the doors to Izaya’s office-slash-home slid open.

Sure enough they found Izaya sitting at his kitchen counter, sipping tea thoughtfully as he watched the twins approach him. “Oh,” he said in faux surprise. “Mairu, Kururi. I didn’t hear you.”

“That’s a load of crap, Iza-nii!” Mairu huffed, folding her arms over her chest as she sent her brother a glare that held no heat at all, she just did it because that how siblings would most probably react. Probably. “You’re such a cruel older brother when all we wanted to do was check up on you!”

“You’re bad at lying, Mairu” he stated calmly and regretted it when Mairu began accusing him once more of being a bad brother and he couldn’t help but argue with her because there was only one person that Izaya liked to argue with, and it was with Mairu. It was familiar and almost… Normal.

Kururi was shuffling through his kitchen cabinets, looking for cups that she and Mairu could use. Finding a pair, she served herself some tea before handing the other cup to Mairu, instantly stopping the argument her siblings were having with that simple gesture. After she had taken a satisfying sip, she turned to her brother. “Introduce,” she stated calmly, watching his face keenly.

“You already know the brute,” Izaya replied with a wave of his hand and a small scowl on his face. “You’ve been acquainted with him for a while now, and you’ve been on better terms with him longer than I have,” he elaborated, shaking his head in his slight confusion. His sisters have always been so hard to understand (and yet he could understand perfectly Kururi’s odd speech patterns without even trying).

“We know him as a friend and as the brother of Yuhei-san!” Mairu stated as a matter of fact. “We do not, however, know him as your BOYFRIEND!” she all but yelled, jumping a little bit in excitement. 

The twins would never say it to his face, for their own sense of pride, but they were actually truly happy for their older brother. They didn’t think that he’d ever land himself into a relationship (a real one, at least, and lately it seems like he really was taking his relationship with Shizuo seriously), and while there was nothing wrong with that it seemed a little lonely and it worried them. The twins had each other, but Izaya didn’t have a twin he could love the same way they loved each other. 

“Is this really necessary?” Izaya sighed, his hand absentmindedly reaching over to pet the top of Kururi’s head affectionately. “I really don’t think its necessary at all. Why introduce you to him when you already know him? It’s honestly a waste of time.” He raised his eyebrows the moment Kururi took his hand in hers before pressing her cheek to the palm of his hand.

Mairu did not like being left out of the affectionate touches and squirmed in frustration before going over to Izaya’s free side to wrap her arms around him in a hug. He wasn’t Kururi, didn’t have the soft curves that her sister had, but it felt right to hug him and she couldn’t help but remember the times when he’d carry them around when they were younger. “But we want you to introduce us,” she whined, burying her face into him and vaguely thought, “ah, Iza-nii still smells the same as before.”

Izaya found it increasingly odd to have his sisters show him such intimate gestures of affection. If he really thought about it he’d realize that he’s never actually had anyone hold him in such an innocent way, even with all the relationships he’s been through in high school and college. The twins were the only people in the world to have ever gotten a chance to touch him like that; the last time he received a hug from either of them was when they were still eight.

“I can’t help but feel like you have an ulterior motive behind all of this. Really? Acting like loving sisters now? It’s too suspicious, you know,” he said with a laugh, letting them hold him for a few moments longer before squirming away from their grasp.

(Later, he would tease Namie that he had recived so much love from his siblings. “Namie, when was the last time you’re dear sweet Seiji-kun hugged you?”)

“Affirm,” Kururi nodded, no shame at all behind her words. “Schemes… Meetings… Experiment… Envy…” 

Mairu nodded in agreement, pulling herself up on the counter beside Izaya while Kururi did the same. “Yes! We heard from Kishitani-sensei that you kissed him and Shizuo-san didn’t seem bothered by it at all!”

Izaya let himself chuckle quietly, knowing full well that Shizuo was probably simmering in envy for a whole week.

“Maybe it’s because he didn’t see it happen in person! So we’ve hatched a plan, Iza-nii! An ingenious plan!” Mairu declared, her energy radiating off her as she thought excitedly about their not so ingenious plan. “So you have to introduce us to Shizuo-san, okay!? And you have to, absolutely have to, play along!”

He contemplated quietly as the twins kicked their legs in anticipation. While Shizuo’s quiet envy was cute, he was a little bit curious as to how Shizuo would react to whatever plans the twins had. “Run me by your plan first, and maybe I’ll agree to it.”

The twins smiled excitedly, hopping off the kitchen counter before grabbing Izaya’s hands in theirs and began to drag him out of his office and onto the earliest train to Ikebukuro.

 

 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: Get ready for hell  
Message: ♡Shizu-chan♡, this may possibly be the worst day of your life. 

**Sender: ♡Shizu-chan♡**  
Subject: Re: Get ready for hell  
Message: What the fuck? It’s late, Izaya. 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: A bucket of blood  
Message: We are coming over and honestly I have no idea how to warn you. Just be prepared for the worst, I suppose. 

**Sender: ♡Shizu-chan♡**  
Subject: Re: A bucket of blood  
Message: You’re morbid. Make sense. 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: Siblings ahoy!  
Message: The twins insist on meeting you. I don’t understand their logic at all, but we’re coming to meet you. 

 

 

Shizuo, for some odd reason, seemed to understand the twin’s logic clearly. This was a big step in their relationship. “He’s introducing me to his family,” he muttered under his breath in disbelief, completely ignoring the fact that he already knew the twins very well. “Fuck.”

He put down his phone for a moment to take a deep breath to calm himself down. It wasn’t working.

He stood up abruptly, walking over to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror. Fuck. His roots were showing now that he got a better look at himself, and he definitely needed to floss or something. Has his face always looked that weird? An odd sense of self-consciousness fell upon Shizuo, who had never _ever_ felt it before. He washed his face, brushed his teeth twice, flossed and even went to pick out a shirt that looked decent, but not decent enough to show that he was trying to impress.

Why the hell was he getting so worked up anyway?

He began pacing in distress, and while usually he’d pull out a cigarette to calm his nerves he didn’t. Smoking had slowly left his life the moment he started dating Izaya, which was a good thing in retrospect. So instead of smoking, Shizuo made his way to the kitchen and pulled out a carton of mlik from his fridge and took several gulps in an attempt to calm his nerves.

His phone buzzed on the bed, but it went unnoticed.

 

 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: Sleeping beauty  
Message: Did you fall asleep, ♡Shizu-chan♡? How utterly disrespectful! Even after I sent you a warning. Don’t blame me if Mairu kicks your door down. 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: God have mercy on your soul  
Message: We are literally ten minutes away from your home. I truly hope, for your sake and mine, that you didn’t fall asleep. 

**Sender: Flea**  
Subject: Heaven or hell?  
Message: Do you believe in either? You might end up in one of those places very soon. It was relatively nice knowing you, ♡Shizu-chan♡. 

 

 

Shizuo had his mouthful of milk when the doorbell rang, causing him to spit it out in a spray in his shock. Coughing in an attempt to clear his throat, he haphazardly threw a dishrag onto the milk puddle that he accidentally made. He wiped his lips against the back of his hand before making his way to the door, practically throwing it open in agitation. “Hey,” he tried nonchalantly, immediately feeling nervous as three pairs of eyes stared at him. It was intimidating having the Orihara siblings ogling at him so intently. 

The eldest Orihara stared at his boyfriend intently, noting the wet stain on the front of his shirt and the slight milk residue that remained on one corner of Shizuo’s lips in amusement. The urge to wipe it away was strong, but the twins had both his arms trapped in a hug. He smiled instead, gracefully masking the awkwardness that he felt “good evening.”

“Hello Shizuo-san! You look a little frazzled, is everything alright?” Mairu asked knowingly, already noticing how nervous Shizuo looked as she let herself in, pulling Izaya and Kururi in with her.

“Evening,” Kururi greeted politely, bowing her head slightly as the sibling train steered itself towards the small living room and parked on the couch. “Comfy.”

Shizuo closed the door behind him and stared at the siblings: Izaya looked mildly confused, Mairu looked mischievous (which made him even more nervous than he already was), and Kururi had her usual neutral face but for some reason Shizuo could sense that there was something playful in her eyes. He gulped. “Can I get you anything?”

“Juice!”

“Coffee.”

“Water….”

The blond made a disgruntled noise, nodding once before heading into the kitchen to grab what the siblings had asked for. He was happy to pull himself from the awkward situation but dreaded the fact that he had to go back, so he worked very slowly to prepare their drinks.

The siblings watched Shizuo from their place in the living room, the twins still latched onto Izaya’s arms like leeches. “You’ve yet to explain your ingenious plan to me, my dearest sisters,” he drawled, eyes firmly glued to the back of Shizuo’s head, noticing in delight that the back of his neck and the tips of his ears were starting to grow red. How cute.

Mairu and Kururi sent each other knowing looks, scooting closer to Izaya and practically sandwiching him between their bodies in a weird three-person hug. “You’re smart anyway, I’m sure you’ll understand soon enough,” Mairu explained, pressing her cheek to Izaya’s arm. “Isn’t that right, Kuru-nee?”

“Confirm,” Kururi replied to her mirror image, pressing her cheek as well against Izaya’s other arm. “Trust,” she told her brother, a small and gentle smile spreading across her face as she nuzzled his arm.

Izaya leaned back against the couch and sighed. “The calm before the storm, is it?”

Shizuo came back with their drinks and another carton of milk for himself, slightly proud of the fact that his bartender skills were put to (some) use. “You should probably let his arms go if he’s going to take his coffee,” Shizuo grumbled with a sharp nod of his head before taking a sip of his milk as he sat on a free chair, watching the Oriharas carefully.

The girls smiled, letting go of Izaya in favor of grabbing their drinks.

“Introduce,” Kururi insisted quietly after she sipped her water, her eyes darting to Shizuo then back to her older brother.

Izaya rubbed his forehead in balmy frustration before sighing. “Well for whatever reason, the twins asked me to introduce you to them,” Izaya explained to Shizuo, making a face at how ridiculous the whole ordeal was. “So, Shizu-chan, these are my sisters,” he introduced properly, using his arm to gesture at them. “Mairu and Kururi.”

“Hello, Shizuo-san!” Mairu chirped.

“Greetings,” Kururi quipped.

Shizu scratched the back of his head then nodded. “H.. Hello, it’s very nice to meet you.”

The informant groaned softly, letting out a quiet “I can’t believe you’re playing along,” whispered before composing himself once more. “Mairu, Kururi. This is Shizu-chan, my boyfriend,” he continued, gesturing towards Shizuo this time.

The girls began shooting questions at Shizuo relentlessly (Who tops?! How many times a day do you guys go at it?! And other similar questions), for which Izaya was thankful for because he didn’t know how much longer he could last being in a room filled with people he didn’t quite understand that well. While everyone was distracted with each other, he reached over for his cup of hot coffee and brought the cup to his lips, blowing at the hot surface to cool it down.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Kururi and she very deliberately nudged Izaya’s elbow with her own, causing Izaya to spill some of his coffee on himself.

“Ow!” Izaya yelped, setting the coffee down. He burned his lips slightly due to the hot coffee and the front of his shirt now had a wet stain that was similar to Shizuo’s. His hand went to reach for his handkerchief but before he could pull it out Mairu was already dabbing her own handkerchief on the front of his shirt.

“Clumsy,” Kururi said quietly, looking a little bit guilty. “Health?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Izaya assured her, leaning a bit backwards as Mairu invaded his personal space. “Just burned my lip a little bit—“

That was the cue Kururi was looking for. She leaned up, taking her brother’s face in her hands before pressing her lips to his in an innocent kiss to convey her apologies. She was more than used to kissing Mairu, so it wasn’t that different when she kissed her brother. “Sorry,” she murmured as she pulled back. “Accident… Fault…”

Izaya knew that his sisters had an odd way of showing affections but he’s never been on the receiving side of it so it caught him off guard. “It’s… It’s fine, Kururi. Accidents happe—“

Izaya found his lips occupied again but this time it was Mairu who had her lips pressed to his.

Shizuo watched in mild horror, not really knowing what to do. He knew kisses were normal between siblings, heck, he kissed Kasuka on the cheek a lot when they were kids. But that’s the thing: kisses between siblings were always on the cheek. It had to be on the cheek. Anywhere else was weird, wasn’t it?

Mairu pulled back with a smirk directed towards Shizuo and, like nothing weird had just happened, she continued to dab at the wet spot on Izaya’s shirt.

“Was that really necessary?” Izaya asked, taking Mairu’s handkerchief from her hands to clean himself up. “Do you two share everything with each other?”

“Yes,” Kururi answered, wrapping her hands around Izaya’s waist and pulled him into an almost possessive hug. “Share nii-san.”

“That’s right, that’s right!” Mairu chirped excitedly, wrapping her arms around Izaya’s neck. “Iza-nii is ours and we only share with each other!” The twins sent a challenging look towards Shizuo and Izaya was too distracted by the arms around him to notice the absolutely bewildered look on Shizuo’s face.

Shizuo stood then, walking over to the siblings before grabbing the hood of Izaya’s coat to pull him up and away from the girls. He didn’t like the implications of their words, unaware of the fact that they were just riling him up to see how he’d react to them hogging Izaya. Like a child declaring things as his, Shizuo pressed his lips to Izaya’s for several seconds before pulling back and dropping the eldest Orihara back on the couch. “W…Well you’re gonna have to learn to share with me!” he said petulantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't get what Kururi was trying to say
> 
> Schemes… Meetings… Experiment… Envy… = You’re right, we are planning something. If you introduce us to Shizuo-san, he might introduce us to Yuhei-san. But we also want to see Shizuo-san jealous.
> 
> I still have no idea how this story is going to end. Also I really like the Orihara siblings being slightly normal.
> 
> Happy 4/13!


	11. Siblings, a continuation

Shizuo knows that, between the two of them, Izaya was the smarter half. He could read other people with scary accuracy, could predict things like he had planned it from the start, can speak three god damned languages fluently apparently, and if he remembers right Izaya always had great grades in high school. It was a fact that Orihara Izaya was smart, probably the smartest person Shizuo knows, which is why Shizuo found it incredibly odd and incredibly frustrating that Izaya was actually really god damned stupid when it came to things regarding himself.

He absolutely could not understand how Izaya Orihara, great informant of Shinjuku and self-proclaimed god, was so oblivious to what was happening.

Shizuo was far from attentive towards other people’s feelings or how they thought but, as he stared yet again at the Orihara siblings being incredibly touchy feely (with a very confused but slightly happy Izaya in the middle of it all), he couln’t stop the foreign feeling of envy bubbling deep in his chest. The twins were doing it on purpose, he was absolutely sure of it, just to get a rise out of him, and it was at that moment that he realized that the Orihara siblings were very much alike aside from their looks despite the numerous times they’ve denied it.

He and Izaya were supposed to be on a date. He planned it this time and surprised Izaya with a fancy bottle of wine that Tom-san had helped him pick out. It was supposed to be his turn to sweep Izaya off his feet with his practiced lines of romance; he even heavily studied various romance movies with Vorona and the otaku duo for the occasion. But the twins, the god damned twins, found them and immediately latched on to Izaya’s arms like leeches thirsty for blood.

At first he had thought it was the twins way of compensation for all the years that they’ve treated Izaya with indifference. He thought they were making up for lost time as siblings and it even looked like Izaya was enjoying himself despite his complaints of the twins being too clingy for his liking. So for the first few weeks he let the twins get away with stealing his time away from Izaya; sibling love was an important matter and the three Orihara’s were heavily lacking in that department, Izaya especially. He thought it would be good for all of them.

But a man can only take so much and it’s been increasingly hard to control his urge to pick the girls up by the hoods of their jackets and hang them on a stop sign to immobilize them.

The only benefit to the whole ordeal was the fact that the twins had gifted Izaya with a cute jacket that had cat ears on its hood. When they all had their hoods up, Shizuo couldn’t deny that it was one of the cutest things he’d ever seen.

But that’s besides the point.

“So matching clothes is a part of sibling love, huh?” Izaya asked in a rather meek way, tugging at the cat ears as he struggled to walk properly with two pairs of arms wrapped around his body. “Ah, let go. It’s getting increasingly hard to walk like this you know.”

“I’ll say,” Shizuo muttered darkly, his teeth rolling around the lollipop that he had switched out instead of his usual cigarette. At least the sugar was helping him keep in control even though he wanted to punch the nearest wall into smithereens.

The twins smiled knowingly and hugged Izaya tighter.

Shizuo chewed on the lollipop loudly, his anger barely controlled.

“You’re going to ruin your teeth like that,” Izaya chided lightly with a small scoff. Not knowing where to put his arms since the twins were very much in the way, he let his hands rest on top of their hooded heads. “You’re going to spoil your appetite as well.”

Even though Izaya was scolding him, Shizuo was momentarily happy at the fact that Izaya’s attention was on him. “Maybe if we moved _faster_ we’d get to the restaurant quicker and I wouldn’t be chewing on these god damned lollipops,” he grumbled, sending a glare at the twins who actively ignored him. The shift in his relationship with the Oriharas was almost too drastic; though he would never hurt the twins, he’d very much like to throw them as far away as he possibly could.

“Ah, right,” Izaya nodded absentmindedly, squirming in the twins grasp for a few moments until he was free. “Shizu-chan’s right, we’re walking much too slow,” he told the twins. “It’s hard to walk if you’re holding on too tightly.”

Kururi took hold of her brother’s hand and Mairu mirrored the action. “Lost,” (we might get separated from you) she said with a small pout on her face that Shizuo was sure was an act.

Mairu nodded in agreement and, as if to rub it in Shizuo’s face, she raised their linked hands up in the air. “Kuru-nee is right! There are a lot of people today so it’s best if we stuck together!”

Shizuo very desperately wanted to hold Izaya’s hand but instead drew in a deep breath to calm himself.

Izaya laughed, completely unaware of the tension that was growing in their little group. “Maybe Shizu-chan should just carry us there. That way we’ll get there faster and avoid getting separated!” He cheered, Mairu’s enthusiasm rubbing off on him slightly. He turned his head to look at Shizuo and to flash him a teasing grin, but much to his surprise, Shizuo approached them and very abruptly picked up Izaya like a bride. The movement was sudden and it successfully broke the hand links of the Oriharas. Izaya blinked, his eyebrows raised high in silent question. “Ah?”

The people around them paused to stare, confusion evident on their faces.

“Shizuo-san! Let go of Iza-nii!” Mairu complained, jumping up and down in frustration.

“Release!” Kururi agreed, slamming her tiny fists against Shizuo’s arm in her own frustration.

Shizuo barely felt it at all and started walking, not caring at all at the fact that people were staring and pointing and maybe a few of them were taking quick photos. He ignored the twins even as they tugged and punched and kicked and pinched him, demanding for him to let go of their dearest older brother. 

Taking a deep breath, Shizuo ran.

“Ah…” Izaya said, his eyes wide in silent confusion as he was carried down the streets as if he weighed nothing at all. He turned his head and looked over Shizuo’s shoulder to see the twins chasing after them and only barely keeping up. “Um…”

“Iza-nii!!” Mairu yelled over the noise of other pedestrians. “Iza-nii, make him stop!”

“Halt!” Kururi added, already out of breath.

But the twins were persistent, and so was Shizuo, and the chase lasted for ten minutes and only stopped when Izaya noticed something he never witnessed before: Kururi paused, panting for breath, but her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. Mairu grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along despite the fact that she looked like she was going to cry as well.

“Shizu-chan,” Izaya said quietly, still slightly paralyzed in disbelief, but Shizuo didn’t hear him. “Shizu-chan,” he tried again, looking over Shizuo’s shoulder to see that his sisters stopped and an emotion absolutely foreign to him clutched at his heart like a vice and it almost felt like he was being suffocated.

The twins were _crying_. Never, in all his years of knowing them, has he seen them shed tears. Not when they tripped and got hurt, not when they were bullied and called names, not even when he told them that they should cease to exist.

Yet there they were, crying in the middle of the street because they could not be with him.

For once, Izaya’s emotions took control of his actions. “Shizu-chan, stop!” he yelled, pounding his fist against Shizuo’s chest. He didn’t know he was capable of feeling this way towards his sisters, but the only thing he could think of at that very moment was that he had to console them; they needed him right this very instant and Shizuo was preventing him from hugging his sisters. “Shizu-chan! Остановись, или я тебя зарежу!” (Stop or I’ll cut you!) 

Shizuo practically skidded to a halt, his heels literally digging into the concrete as he did as Izaya commanded. “What?” He asked, partly curious as to what Izaya had said and partly annoyed that he had to stop.

Izaya squirmed his way out of Shizuo’s arms, immediately darting to the twins who continued to cry. He wrapped his arms around their necks and pulled them in for an embrace, cooing softly and rubbing at their backs in an attempt to calm them down. “It’s alright, Iza-nii is here, okay? Shizu-chan stopped so you can stop too.”

The twins threw their arms around him and continued to bawl and stutter out phrases that barely made sense and Izaya ate it up as his brotherly senses took over him.

Shizuo turned around to witness the scene and swore under his breath. Would Izaya hate him for making his sisters cry? But as he approach them with the feeling of guilt washing over him, he caught the sight of the twins sending him mischievous smiles over Izaya’s shoulders and immediately he knew that this was all a ploy to steal away all of Izaya’s attention again. He seethed.

The twins finally let their tears subside and their small sniffles and puffy red eyes were the only proof that they had really cried at all. They still clung onto Izaya like their lives depended on it, but they couldn’t stop themselves from smiling.

“There, there,” Izaya murmured, patting their backs affectionately before pulling back. He didn’t see the smiles shift into frowns as he looked at their faces. “Better now?”

Mairu pushed her glasses up before rubbing at her eyes. “Un,” she muttered with a small nod before taking hold of Kururi’s hand in her own. She always did that when she felt like crying or when she felt bad and she was well aware of the fact that Izaya knew this was one of their coping mechanisms. She gripped onto her sister’s hand tightly, emphasizing the point that she still felt bad. She was a wonderful actress.

Kururi squeezed Mairu’s hand just as tightly.

The effect on Izaya was almost instant. He took hold of their hands and walked over to Shizuo.

Shizuo was almost afraid of what Izaya was going to say. Was he going to be scolded? Was Izaya going to tell him that he was a monster for making his sisters (dirty little actresses) cry? He gulped and stood his ground, a trail of nervous sweat rolling down the back of his neck.

“Sorry about that,” Izaya muttered apologetically, giving him an awkward smile that made Shizuo’s knees melt. “I’ve never seen them cry before, I… I guess I just…” he paused, the next word getting caught in his throat. He didn’t want to admit it but, from what he had just done, it was probably already obvious.

Shizuo took in a deep breath again and sighed loudly before patting the top of Izaya’s head once. “You got worried, I get it,” he grumbled, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the twins. “I get it completely, I’ve got a younger sibling too, you know.”

Izaya smiled softly and they continued their walk to the restaurant that Shizuo had promised to take him to. Dinner was spent with the twins talking to Izaya while they ate.

 _“You win this round,”_ he thought bitterly as he watched the twins share an ice cream cone with Izaya.

= = =

Shizuo stared at his cellphone’s screen with a frown on his face, his thumb hovering over the call button. He really didn’t want to play this card because he didn’t want to cause any trouble but at this point he didn’t really have much of a choice left. With a sigh, he pressed call with a little bit too much force and pressed his phone against his ear as it began to ring.

Three rings later, someone picked up. “Aniki?” the voice was monotonous but Shizuo knew it was a question. “It’s rare to receive calls from you. Did something happen?” Again, the voice was monotonous but Shizuo knew it so well and was able to hear the concern.

“Ah, no nothing’s wrong, Kasuka…” Shizuo said but then shook his head as he backtracked. “Wait, actually. Yes, there is something wrong.”

The younger Heiwajima nodded against his phone even though his brother wouldn’t see it. “Does it have something to do with Izaya-san?”

Shizuo looked shocked, slightly amazed that his brother knew what it was about. “How did you know…?”

“Kishitani-san told me about it,” Kasuka replied bluntly.

“Sorry,” Shizuo muttered out an apology, scratching the back of his head as he made a mental note to both thank Shinra and also punch him. “I was gonna tell you sooner but… I guess its kind of complicated…”

Kasuka hummed in response. He was no better at romance than his brother was so he knew that he wouldn’t have advice to offer but Shizuo always called him when something was truly bothering him so Kasuka would try his hardest to help him in any way he could.

“Ah, well,” Shizuo grunted, chewing on his lollipop stick as he thought of the right words to say. “Do you want to meet him?”

Kasuka hummed again in thought, and though it wouldn’t be obvious to others, he was frowning deeply. He didn’t really have an opinion on Izaya but he’s heard many rumors and negative comments about him. “Sure,” he replied after a few moments of silence. He thought that maybe it was about time that he met the man who Shizuo hated passionately turned man-that-his-older-brother-was-dating. Conveniently for him, his schedule had just cleared up. “I’m free next week on Saturday, is that alright?”

“Perfect,” Shizuo replied and Kasuka could already see the soft smile in his voice. “Thanks a lot, Kasuka. I really owe you one.”

Kasuka’s lips twitched up slightly. “It’s nothing, aniki. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kasuka was not happy.

Shizuo had explained before hand that Izaya had siblings who were big fans and that they’d be tagging along and thus he had prepared himself for the meeting. He wasn’t going to present himself as Yuuhei Hanejima but as Kasuka Heiwajima, Shizuo’s younger brother who barely showed any emotions at all. Though they were fans, and it was his duty as an actor to please them, it was his duty as a brother to be completely honest with the family of his brother’s boyfriend.

They were supposedly big fans and though their initial reaction was the usual screaming and excited talking, it had died down the moment they were seated. The twins flanked Izaya, watching the Heiwajima siblings with critical eyes. Kasuka couldn’t help but feel like he was being tested and he could understand completely now why Shizuo had been so antsy on the way there. The Orihara siblings were a force to be trifled with.

“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure, Yuuhei-san,” Izaya started, breaking the ice as he extended his hand over the table towards Kasuka for a handshake.

“Call me Kasuka,” Kasuka replied, taking Izaya’s hand in his and shook it twice before letting go. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Izaya-san.” So far so good, he supposed.

He was expecting a storm of questions from the twins but they remained oddly quiet, which was both relieving but also unnerving. It certainly felt like they were planning something, and Kasuka was hard pressed for an answer.

“Uh, yeah. So I’m dating him,” Shizuo indicated gracefully before eying the twins apprehensively. “That’s Mairu and Kururi,” he added, gesturing towards the girls. “They’re his sisters.”

“They look very much alike,” Kasuka stated the obvious.

Izaya laughed, yet again unaware of the awkwardness that filled the private room of Russia Sushi. “Well, we are siblings after all and the same could be said about you and Shizu-chan,” he replied, watching Kasuka’s face intently. He was so much different from Shizuo but still bore the same handsome face. “The girls are huge fans,” Izaya continued, slightly confused as to why the twins were being quiet. He supposed that they were starstruck, too shocked at the fact they were face to face with their idol to really react. “If you don’t mind, perhaps I could ask for an autograph on their behalf. They seem to be too shy right now.”

Kasuka nodded, reaching in his pocket for a small notebook to scribe his signature. After he neatly signed his name twice, he handed the autographs to Izaya who then gave them to the twins who accepted them gratefully.

“You’re so great, Iza-nii!!” Mairu chirped, absolutely delighted by the gift but continued to give the cold shoulder to the Heiwajimas. “Thank you so much!” she said, leaning towards her brother to kiss him on the lips to show her appreciation. And, of course, Kururi kissed him as well after she had pulled back.

Izaya was more than used to their affections by now and he just sighed in resignation.

Kasuka’s eyebrows rose slightly at the sight before turning his attention to his brother in curiosity.

Shizuo hands were clenched into tight fists, his eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at the girls.

Dinner went on, Izaya asking Kasuka various questions about work and about Shizuo when he was younger. The girls interjected every once in a while, stealing little glances at their idol, but continued to only speak to Izaya. Kasuka was beginning to understand the situation better as the night went on. When the girls excused themselves to the bathroom, he excused himself as well to follow them.

“Wait,” he called before the twins could enter the comfort room, his voice effectively stopping them. “I want to talk to you.”

The twins shared a well hidden look of excitement. They were absolutely ecstatic to meet Yuuhei in the flesh, but they were still determined to keep all of Izaya’s attention on themselves. “What about, Yuuhei-san?” Mairu asked, holding Kururi’s hand in hers.

“I understand now what you’re doing, and why aniki is upset about it,” he replied, straight to the point. “To be honest, I really want you two to stop what you’re doing because it is genuinely distressing aniki,” he continued. He bowed deeply before speaking. “Please stop irritating aniki.”

“Okay…” Kururi muttered, patting him on the shoulder once to tell him he didn’t have to bow. “Condition…” (We’ll stop, but you have to make a deal with us).

Kasuka stood up straight and raised his eyebrow slightly in confusion. “If it can be accomplished, then I’ll agree to it.”

The twins dropped their act of pretending they didn’t care about Kasuka and screamed in delight, throwing themselves at their idol before a flood of questions and comments and compliments drowned the room in noise. The idol let himself be hugged, much more used to noisy fans than quiet ones, and told himself _“this is for brother, I have to endure it.”_

 

 

**[At the same time, at the dinner table]**

 

 

“So you never learned how to ride a bike?” Izaya asked in disbelief, watching happily as Shizuo stuffed mystery sushi into his mouth petulantly. He laughed, slapping Shizuo’s hand lightly. “Stop eating so fast, you’ll choke yourself.”

Shizuo grumbled. He wasn’t stress eating or anything. “I never learned because there were too many annoying people pickin’ fights with me,” he replied, slowing down to actually chew his food as he stared at Izaya. “It’s not fair that you’re learning things about me and I still don’t know a lot about you,” he said a little despondently. He was pretty sure that this was not the way a relationship was supposed to go. “All I know is you don’t like sweet stuff and fish eyes.”

Izaya coughed into his cup. “Who told you that?!”

“That scary lady at your office,” Shizuo replied, pushing a few napkins towards Izaya.

“I should fire her,” Izaya grumbled to himself, taking a few of the offered napkins to wipe at his lips.

“So you want to learn more about me?” Izaya asked, a flirtatious smirk making its way onto his face. “That information doesn’t come cheap, ne? What are you willing to offer for that?”

Shizuo huffed and frowned, racking his brain for a bargaining chip. He knew money wasn’t going to work with Izaya (and if felt kind of dirty to be buying information about the person you’re dating). After a few long seconds, he offered almost shyly “I’ll tell you more about myself if you tell me more about you…”

“Goodness,” Izaya murmured as Shizuo’s face turned pink, letting his foot brush against Shizuo’s under the table. “You’re incredibly shy, Shizu-chan. It’s really cute,” Shizuo turned a shade darker at that, and Izaya laughed. “But I’ll take you up on that offe—“

They heard the twins scream and Izaya stood up abruptly, his hand already in his pocket and ready to pull his switchblade out. He was about to leave the room to follow the twins but Shizuo grabbed his wrist, keeping him there. Before Izaya could ask to be unhanded, he heard their excited voices talking to Kasuka and he immediately calmed down before returning to his seat.

“God damn it,” Shizuo grumbled. “I’m banning the twins from coming to our dates.”

Izaya smiled in amusement and laughed. “What’s this? Do you want me all to yourself or something?”

“Yes, damn it.”

Yet again, Izaya was hit with shock but he quickly recollected himself. “Good grief, what have I gotten myself into?” He asked no one in particular, rubbing his fingers against his forehead in thought, not really noticing Shizuo’s hand moving from his wrist until their fingers were intertwined.

Shizuo smiled. At last, he was finally able to hold Izaya’s hand. It was the best night of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so OOC now but augh, Izaya being a protective older brother.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need more of it.
> 
> (Dear god, how am I ending this fic?)
> 
> God bless Kasuka.


	12. Mishap

It was an accident.

 

It was an _accident._

 

It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident….!

Shizuo was used to seeing destruction and chaos and _blood_ , so much blood, but he felt the bile rise up in his throat as he stood there in the middle of the road with his eyes wide and his body rigid in anxiety and guilt.

 

It was an accident.

 

Warily, he forced his body to move, put one foot after another to approach the limp body laying in a small crater on the ground and surrounded by wayward debris and shattered glass. His heart hammered in his chest, his blood pumping too fast and too hard that he could practically hear and feel it coursing through his veins like molten lava. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his voice cracking as he spoke. “I-izaya?”

The man in question made no response and continued to lay there as if he were sleeping.

 

 

Or _dead._

 

 

Shizuo crouched down, his hands shaking too much for him to control.

He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. 

The despaired mantra continued in his head, and he was unyielding and blind to everything around him even as Izaya’s fingers twitched.

Izaya blinked his eyes open slowly, the sun high in the sky much to bright for his liking and he was sure that he had a concussion by now. He felt the wetness of his own sweat and blood as it trickled down the side of his head and seeped into his clothes and he groaned quietly, trying to move despite the fact that his entire body felt like one ugly bruise. He hissed in pain upon moving his arm and, when he glanced down to inspect what was wrong with it, he realized that it had been dislocated and he’s pretty sure there’s a rather sharp shard of glass imbedded into his side. 

“Sh-shizu-chan,” he hissed out through clenched teeth, his eyes straying to the blond crouched over him with a look of utter despair on his face. Izaya took in a shaky breath when Shizuo didn’t respond and, mustering whatever strength he had left, he nudged his good arm’s elbow against the bodyguard’s knee.

It was such a soft touch, barely there really, but it was enough to snap Shizuo from whatever stupor he was in. “Izaya..!” He gasped out, his hands shaking hard, his whole body shaking, as he stared at the informant. He felt like he wanted to cry. “S.. I’m sorry…”

Izaya grinned weakly, his hand moving up only barely in an attempt to give a dismissive wave. “Don’t talk as if I’m dying, Shizu-chan,” he managed to wheeze out, feeling breathless and lightheaded. “Your aim has gotten better,” he teased, laughing very quietly as Shizuo gave him a bewildered look.

“Don’t joke about things like that,” Shizuo would have yelled if it weren’t for the fact that he felt scared. “I… I gotta…” he mumbled, his hands digging into his pockets for his phone. He tried to dial for an ambulance but his hands were still shaking and he was so god damned worried that he couldn’t control his strength as he dialed the number but instead destroyed his phone. “Fuck…!”

A frown made its way on Izaya’s face as he watched Shizuo fumble with his now broken phone. While he did need medical attention, he’d really rather not be sent to a hospital; it made things a little more complicated than it should be, and he didn’t want to be confined to a hospital room for days on end. But if he didn’t do something about his arm now, it would only spell trouble for him so he took a deep breath before speaking calmly and softly because he needed to be the calm one if Shizuo was going to continue shaking like a leaf on a windy day. “Shizu-chan, I need you to do something.”

“I-I’m tryin’, alright!?” Shizuo shouted in reply, his anxiousness making him frantic. “I’m fucking trying…!” but his phone was a useless pile of plastic and metal now and he was too scared to touch Izaya. He might hurt him again, he might hurt him without meaning to and it scared Shizuo to the point he didn’t trust himself to even lay a finger on him.

“Listen to me,” Izaya persisted, his fingers twitching as he tried to overcome the headache pounding against his skull. “I need you to pop back my arm.”

“I—What?”

Izaya clenched his teeth tight and spoke “before it swells up; it would be… ngh… rather inconvenient if that were to happen, ne?”

Shizuo stared at the man in disbelief. He always knew that Izaya was a little fucked up in the head but this was just too much for him. “Are you insane?! That’s going to hurt like hell…” he muttered, a new wave of guilt washing over him like a tidal wave. “It’s going to _hurt…_ ” He repeated softly, his hands curling into fists in self-loathing.

“I’m already hurt,” he hadn’t meant for it to sound bad, he meant for it to sound reassuring, but he knew he made a mistake the moment he saw Shizuo tensed and he cursed himself mentally. “I’m more durable than you think, Shizuo,” he muttered, struggling to push himself up into a sitting position which proved harder than he thought it would be. “It will take more than this to kill me, ne?”

Shizuo nodded slowly, wanting desperately to believe in Izaya’s words.

“Now… C’mon,” Izaya coerced, his working arm moving to cradle it’s limp brother. “Help me.”

“I _can’t_ ” Shizuo whispered, his head bowed low. “I can’t do it.”

Izaya rolled his eyes slightly in disbelief. “Squeamish now, Shizu-chan? Really, I’m finding that hard to believe,” he teased with a waver in his voice. “It’s easy, you just pull and then push. I’m sure with your strength—“

“I might hurt you again!” Shizuo yelled, slamming his fist against the pavement and created a small crater in the shape of his fist. Seeing the destruction he cause unconsciously, he retracted his hand as if her were burned: more proof that he was a dangerous human being. More proof that Izaya was right in saying he was a monster.

“Shizuo…” Izaya muttered softly, leaning into the blond until his face was awkwardly resting against Shizuo’s shoulder. “All those times you’ve tried to hurt me, you never have, right? You don’t want to hurt me now, so it’s fine. You wont hurt me, okay?” He told him softly before pulling back slightly only to lose his balance. The only reason he didn’t fall was because Shizuo’s arms reached out to grab him before he could. “See? This is practically a trust fall, and you caught me.”

The blond shook his head. “Sorry,” he muttered because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m sorry…”

“Shizu-chan, I swear, if you don’t do it I’ll do it myself,” Izaya grumbled in response, staggering up until he was on his own two feet albeit a little wobbly and made his way to the nearest building. If he didn’t act soon it would really be troublesome, and though he knew that it was important in their relationship that Shizuo knew that he wasn’t afraid of his strength, he couldn’t afford to have a sling for too long. He was the great Izaya Orihara, after all, and for him to show any sort of weakness would be bad for his reputation.

Izaya’s actions successfully grabbed Shizuo’s attention and snapped the bodyguard out of his despair filled thoughts. Standing up abruptly, he followed Izaya like a lost dog. “Where are you going? What do you mean you’ll do it yourself??” He questioned, catching up to Izaya easily and stood in front of him to stop him from going any further. “You—You shouldn’t be walking. We have to get you to a hospital—“

“No hospitals,” Izaya grunted, sidestepping Shizuo to continue down his path. “We’re going to Shinra’s.”

Shizuo frowned slightly, still feeling a little jealous because of the kiss that Izaya and Shinra shared before. But Izaya’s well being came first, he reminded himself. “Shinra’s place is in the other direction, dumbass..!”

“I know,” Izaya replied with a roll of his eyes, and he felt like he was going to fall at any given moment. “I just need to slam myself against the wall repeatedly.”

Shizuo blinked as he tried to comprehend Izaya’s statement, watching as Izaya approached a very hard looking wall and got ready to ram his body against it. Shizuo practically jumped in front of the informant to stop him from doing something so incredibly stupid. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” he asked, gingerly placing his hands on Izaya’s shoulders.

“If you’re not going to put my arm back in it’s socket, I’m going to force it back in,” Izaya hissed, wincing slightly at Shizuo’s touch. “So you either help me or I’m helping myself.”

“You’re crazy,” Shizuo muttered, his hand sliding down from Izaya’s shoulder to grip at the arm that was flopping around uselessly at his side. He gulped, not liking how fragile Izaya looked at that very moment despite the clear annoyance that was painted on his face. “Are you sure this is the only way…?” He asked warily.

“There’s the wall,” Izaya stated, tilting his head towards the wall to emphasize his point.

“Fuck the wall,” Shizuo grunted. “I’ll count to three.”

“One,” Izaya started for him, already taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself for the pain that was sure to blossom.

“Two,” Shizuo continued, concentrating hard and willing himself not to use too much strength. Before he counted three he forced Izaya’s arm back into its socket and it was oddly easier than he expected it to be but he knew it was painful because Izaya yelped in pain.

“Shizu-chan you ass,” Izaya hissed, lightheaded and pained everywhere. “You didn’t reach three—“ he didn’t get to finish his complaint because his body was overwhelmed with pain and fatigue and before his body could hit the ground, Shizuo caught him and immediately made his way to Shinra’s apartment.

\- - - - - - - -

 

 

It was a normal enough day; the twins had agreed to leave them alone this time for which both Shizuo and Izaya were grateful for since they rarely had coinciding days off of work. Though it was still a little awkward being in a relationship with each other, they still felt oddly compelled to spend time together alone. Though neither of them would admit it they enjoyed each others company even though there were times they'd lapse into silence and nervous glances, almost as if they were two high school students new to relationships (and in all honesty, that wasn't far from the truth).

They were walking along the streets of Ikebukuro with no destination in particular, just enjoying each others companionship while they spoke in almost hushed tones about random things they might have spoken about when they were younger had they been friends. They talked about comic books and television shows they used to watch as kids, favorite foods, favorite colors, favorite _anythings_ really. Izaya found it easier to gather information about Shizuo by hearing it from the source and he trusted Shizuo enough not to reveal his deepest and darkest secrets.

They had assumed that they were in relatively safer streets, away from curious eyes and away from people who knew them. It was difficult to go on dates when there were too many people stalking them, and it unnerved Izaya and put him on edge while it annoyed Shizuo too much for them to actually enjoy themselves. They were so close to holding hands too, until a voice had interrupted them.

A gang of delinquents, they looked to be from the Yellows from what Izaya observed, had surrounded them, giving them mocking looks that made Izaya grin but Shizuo growl. "Y'know," one of the men started, jeering at the two of them as if they had the upper-hand. "Just because you ain't wearin' what you usually wear doesn't mean we wont recognize you!"

Shizuo's anger was practically palpable, but it looked like Izaya was the only one who could feel the murderous intent that was radiating off of his boyfriend (he offhandedly assumed it was because of all the years of avoiding Shizuo's wrath like the plague). Shaking his head in a disappointed sort of way, he stood in front of Shizuo, almost like a human shield, and sighed. "Really now, can't you see we're on a date? Can't you let us off with a verbal warning or something?" he tried to placate them, a warning that didn't sound like a warning.

"You're tellin' us to give up this chance?" the ring leader asked them in a theatrical sort of way and Izaya would have found it amusing if it weren't for the fact that he was getting rather upset. "It's like killin' two birds with one stone!"

Izaya was about to retort to that, something absolutely clever, but he felt Shizuo's hand on his shoulder pulling him back and before he could stop him Shizuo's fist was already flying towards the punk's face.

All hell broke lose at that moment. Shizuo's fists swung in every direction, hitting a lot of the gang members square in the face hard enough to break their noses and knock them out. It was rather convenient, Izaya thought as he dodged a steel pipe that was aimed at his head, that Shizuo's method of fighting was meant to be quick. One hit knock outs; Shizuo would have been an excellent boxer or better yet an MMA fighter.

Izaya wasn't much of a fighter, he'd rather not get his hands dirty with the blood of his precious humans (at least not directly) so he dodged and ducked and parried every attack sent his way and it almost looked like he was dancing. But avoiding attacks could only last so long; he wasn't ashamed of running away from a fight if he was clearly outnumbered but he didn't want to run off while Shizuo was doing all the work. So he ducked and weaved through the many bodies that got in his way until he was close to Shizuo. "Shizu-chan, calm yourself!" he called over the commotion, not noticing the man that came up behind him.

Shizuo turned around at the sound of Izaya's voice, eyes going wide as a man with a bat swung down at the informant.

Izaya tried to avoid it but there was barely any room for him to maneuver around and he could almost swear he felt his brain rattle in his skull when the bat came down on him. Though it wasn't as painful as he thought it would be (he's been victim to Shizuo's attacks for a very long time now, after all. He was already used to pain) it still had him staggering, blood rolling down the side of his face in a heavy stream. It's been a while since he's seen his own blood.

He looked up at Shizuo, noting that the blond's eyes looked different from how they usually were. Suddenly Izaya felt sorry for the men who thought it would be a good idea to gang up on them; why in the world would they think it was a good idea to attack two of Ikebukuro's most feared men at the same time, especially when men in question were dating and obviously on each others sides now? He took several steps back, wiping the blood off his face with the sleeve of his jacket as he watched Shizuo uproot a street sign as a makeshift weapon.

The fight was over in a matter of minutes and Izaya was watching while nursing the blow to his head. "Good job, Shizu-chan," Izaya called cheerfully, walking over to the blond who was now covered in small cuts and dirt. "Maybe we should call it a day, ne? Let's go home together and take a bath!" he suggested but as he approached Shizuo his enthusiasm began to die down.

Shizuo's fist came at him fast and if it weren't for his quick reflexes, Izaya might have had a broken face. He used his arms to block the attack and he felt a sharp pain shoot up his arm, gritting his teeth as he endured the pain. "Shizu--" he tried, but Shizuo's fighting instincts had taken over him and he supposed the sight of his face still triggered some violence in Shizuo. He made a mental note to make sure he didn't come close to the blond after fights until he was able to calm down.

 

 

 

\- - - - - - - -

Shizuo watched as Shinra patched Izaya up, plucking a few shards of glass that were imbedded into his side. He was holding an ice pack against Izaya’s shoulder, a dark colored bruise already encompassing Izaya’s usually flawless skin. He sighed.

Shinra sensed Shizuo’s distress and waved his hand dismissively. “He’s been worse,” he reassured his friend as he continued to clean out whatever injuries Izaya had sustained.

“W..Worse?” Shizuo echoed in bewilderment, his eyes wide as he stared at Shinra for more answers. He knew Izaya was bound to have a lot of enemies but for him to have been hurt worse than he was now gave him an unsettled stomach and an urge to punch whomever it was that tried to hurt Izaya. “Worse than something I’ve done?”

“From what you’ve told me it was an accident,” Shinra stated, keeping his eyes on Izaya’s body as he stitched his cut skin. “He got caught in the crossfire which is actually kinda funny,” he said with a laugh. “Usually Izaya likes to stay away from fights that don’t involve him, but I guess this time was different?”

“We were on a date,” Shizuo mumbled abashedly.

“Well, aside from his arm and the concussion, everything else is minor so you don’t have to worry about it,” Shinra informed the blond, pulling back now that he was done performing his doctorly duties on Izaya. “He might have to wear a sling for a few days and it would probably be best if he didn’t do anything dangerous and took a few days off for rest,” he continued to inform Shizuo in a very professional sounding way.

“Okay…” Shizuo muttered, shifting the ice pack along Izaya’s shoulder.

“Do you want to stay here for a bit or do you want me to call for a cab?” Shinra asked as he stood up and proceeded to collect his tools but, as he looked up at Shizuo, he realized that he was being ignored. No, not ignored, rather Shizuo didn't notice him at all for he was too focused on watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Izaya's chest as he slept rather peacefully. He sighed and smiled, shaking his head fondly at the sight of Shizuo waiting patiently for Izaya to wake up. “I’ll leave them alone for now,” Shinra muttered to himself, making his way out the room before closing the door quietly behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I've added a few more paragraphs but I fear that they're kind of out of place. Arhg. Tho i hope its better now!
> 
>  
> 
> I've seen some doctors pop in someones dislocated foot and its really easy but they still used local anesthetic. Izaya did it without anesthetic so that probably really hurt a whole fucking lot.


	13. Late nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief warning: mentions of drug use

“Really, you’re just as bad as Namie,” Izaya muttered softly, watching as the twins shuffled about in his kitchen. They came over regularly now which he was both appreciative of but at the same time worried with. If others were to suspect that he and his sisters had formed an emotional bond over the past few weeks, it would definitely be bad for all three of them.

“Taste,” Kururi muttered, offering a batter covered spoon to his lips. She smiled softly when he took a taste.

Izaya would never admit it to anyone, but the smiles that his sisters gave him melted his heart to some degree. He scowled slightly, now understanding to some degree how Namie feels towards Seiji (but absolutely not in a creepy way like she does) and how Shizuo feels towards Kasuka. Maybe he should ask the twins to change their surnames or something.

Well, he could always ask Shink-san to have some of his people keep an eye on them if he really had to. Or maybe even Celty would do him a favor.

“You know I’m not fond of sweets,” Izaya said in a bored sounding way, watching as Mairu distributed the batter into even little blobs. So even they were capable of baking.

Mairu huffed and tossed a cookie batter ball towards Izaya’s head but she knew he’d dodge it easily enough, which he did with a tilt of his head. “Is that how you show your appreciation to your sisters?!” She asked as if she were deeply offended. “We came here to check up on your recovery, even went as far as baking you cookies! The least you could do is say thank you!”

“Thank you,” Izaya chirped mockingly, tilting his head to the side once more as he dodged another cookie batter ball. 

Kururi carefully placed the cookies into the oven, turning around to see that her two siblings were sitting on stools and commencing a staring game as they continued to bicker like five year olds. “Status?” (How is your arm doing?) she asked Izaya, eyeing his arm with a barely there frown on her face.

Izaya lost the staring battle the moment he turned his head to face Kururi’s concerned stare. His arm ended up in a sling despite his best efforts and he hates the fact that it has interfered his work to a degree (however he does love watching other people squirm in discomfort in their ableism, so it’s enough to keep him from being upset for too long). But aside from that, he was recovering well enough and Shinra had told him that in a few more days he’d be back to his old self. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

They watched one movie together while eating some of the cookies before Izaya practically kicked them out to send them home. He watched as the twins waved goodbye to him from the cab and he waved back with his good arm, his eyes narrowing slightly as he eyed the driver and the cab’s plate number as a safety precaution.

With a sigh, he returned back to his apartment that smelled too sweet but felt a little more like home.

\- - - - - -

He looked up from his laptop when his phone started ringing at two in the morning, a mildly startled look on his face. He checked the caller ID and raised his eyebrow in confusion: it was Shizuo. He felt unnerved for a moment, a strong feeling telling him that it wasn’t Shizuo actually calling. While it wasn’t uncommon to be receiving calls from him, the blond always sent a text prior to calling (it was always “I’m calling,” as if he were asking permission to call, which Izaya found stupid but oddly cute).

He took a deep breath and composed himself, putting on a professional sounding voice. “Good morning, to whom am I talking to?” he asked, spinning slightly on his swivel chair to watch the city lights down below. “Don’t you know that it’s rude to be calling so late?”

“Ah, sorry,” the voice that wasn’t Shizuo replied, sounding extremely sheepish. “Uh, do you know a mister Shizuo Heiwajima?”

Izaya’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he was able to maintain his professional like air. “I do. For what purpose is this call?”

“Uh, well… You see,” the woman’s voice started, extremely awkward and nervous. “He’s in a bit of a problem right now, and you were his speed dial so I called…”

Izaya’s heart fluttered for a brief moment. He didn’t know he was Shizuo’s speed dial. His face grew warm at that but he cleared his throat as if it would help to clear his mind. “What’s happened to him?”

“I think he might be drunk? Or… I don’t know, he’s acting very silly and I really need to close up soon but I’m a little bit too scared to ask him to leave…” she told him. “I-I mean, I know he’s a violent person but right now he’s pretty calm but he wont stop making drinks for me,” she squeaked and pulled away from the phone for a moment to ask Shizuo to be careful. “Uhm… Could you please pick him up?”

“Send me the address and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Izaya sighed with a shake of his head, already standing up and making his way out of his apartment. “And I suggest you let him continue to make you drinks and try not to set him off.”

“Thank you,” the girl replied, and then immediately screamed as a bottle of something shattered. Izaya heard the faint _“Heiwajima-san, no!”_ before the phone went dead.

When Izaya finally reached the address that the text showed him, he asked the cab driver to wait for him while he went in to fetch Shizuo. The bar was not as well known as the ones within the perimeter and it was a perfect place to lay low or enjoy a drink in silence. Pushing the door open, Izaya was greeted by the sight of the small bartender girl sitting on a stool and sipping a drink, watching as Shizuo lethargically made another drink for her. Different glasses that were filled with colorful liquids were placed on top of the bar’s counter top and Izaya couldn’t help but let out an amused scoff.

The girl, looking up from her piña colada, hopped off her stool to approach Izaya. “Are you here to pick up Heiwajima-san?” she asked, looking a little frazzled. She probably gave in and took a drink to soothe her nerves.

“Yes,” Izaya replied as he walked over to the bar. “And don’t worry, I’ll pay for the drinks,” he said with a small laugh before turning his attention to Shizuo.

The blond smiled at him widely, putting down the shaker that was in his hands. “’Zaya,” he greeted happily, leaning forward to press a kiss to Izaya’s cheek. “Made drinks,” he stated, gesturing to the many drinks on the table. “With fancy umbrellas.”

“I can see that,” Izaya replied, inspecting a Collins glass filled with amber colored drink.

Shizuo noticed his gaze and pushed the glass towards him. “It’s a Tequila Sunrise,” he told him. “S’got like… O...Orange juice in it,” he informed him, looking around for a moment before adding a slice of lime to the rim of the glass. “I dunno where they keep the oranges so… so that’ll have to do.”

While it was amusing to see Shizuo shuffling behind the bar in an almost dazed way, Izaya’s eyes narrowed to slits as an unsettling notion made itself apparent in his mind. He took the drink Shizuo had offered him and turned to the bartender girl. “Ne, bartender-san,” he called as he made his way to her. “Do you recall whom he was with?”

The girl let out a squeak at the sudden question, nearly dropping her drink. “Uh,” she stated, her lips pursing in thought. “A man with dreadlocks came in with Heiwajima-san, they were here to collect a debt from the boss,” she told him as she continued to recall what had happened. “But Mr. Dreadlocks got a call and he had to leave… Heiwajima-san stayed until my boss finally came and spoke to him.”

“I see, I see,” Izaya replied, looking around the room until he found a camera. “Is it alright if I were to have a look at the CCTV footage?”

The girl looked hesitant for a moment, looking to Shizuo then to Izaya. She went to the front of the store and locked the door before approaching Izaya once more. “You’re that informant, aren’t you?” she asked in a whisper, as if she were trying to keep their conversation a secret. “That Orihara Izaya person!”

Shizuo yelped in the background as he dropped another glass.

They both turned to look at Shizuo who crouched down to pick up the broken pieces of glass as he muttered quietly to himself.

“Heiwajima-san, you really don't have to do that…” The girl called. “You’ll cut your hand at this ra—“

“Don’t mind him,” Izaya interrupted. “He’ll be fine. Now, as you were saying?”

“I think my boss is up to no good,” she told him then took another sip of her drink as if it were liquid courage to steel her nerves. “Shady business, you know? And no one really talks about it but I’m pretty sure that we’re under the jurisdiction of Awakusu-kai,” she continued.

Izaya raised an eyebrow at the girl and stayed silent for a moment, his suspicions slowly proving to be correct. “I take it you have an inkling of an idea what happened to my dear Shizu-chan, ne?” he asked, jerking his head slightly towards Shizuo’s general direction.

“Yes,” the girl replied. “I hear like… There’s this man going around? Akaba-something,” she said as she tried to recall the name. “Well, I hear that that person doesn’t take kindly to these kind of substances… I don’t want this place to get into trouble, it’s hard enough to find a job.”

“Ah, The Awakusu’s don't really appreciate these kind of dealings,” Izaya agreed before taking a sip of his Tequila Sunrise. It was a little bit too sweet for his tastes so he placed it back onto the bar’s counter top. “Akabayashi-san in particular doesn’t approve of these sorts of things.”

“Yeah well I really like this job, you know?” the girl told him, her eyes briefly going to Shizuo just to make sure he didn’t break anything else. “So I really don't want this place to get into trouble… Do you think you could help me?” she asked Izaya. “But I don’t really have much money to offer you…”

Izaya pulled out his business card from his pocket and handed it over to the girl. “I’ll help you out,” he said with a charming smile on his face. “In exchange, I’d like you to work for me. Do you think you could do that?”

“Work for you?!” the girl echoed, accepting his business card to read it over. “But I’m already working here…”

“As my eyes and ears,” Izaya explained briefly. “Bars are a wonderful place to gather information, after all, and you seem pretty well informed about the underground. At least for someone who doesn’t even try to involve themselves in that sort of thing,” he watched her face in amusement. “It will be easy, so don’t worry about it. I’ll even pay you for your troubles.”

“Alright…” The girl stated with a firm nod. “Anyway… I’ll go get the footage for you, Orihara-san.”

As the girl went to the backroom to fetch the surveillance, Izaya approached Shizuo who was watching one of the drinks very intently. “Shizu-chan, are you alright?”

“It’s a blue ninja,” Shizuo informed, picking up the drink and brought it up to his lips but let out a disgruntled sound when Izaya placed his hand over the lip of the glass to prevent Shizuo from sipping it. “Why?”

“I don’t think you should mix and match,” he said quietly with a frown, his hand moving to cup Shizuo’s face. His thumb pulled lightly at the skin under Shizuo’s eye and Izaya inspected the bloodshot color unhappily. “It must have been a really heavy dosage to have actually had an effect on you,” Izaya muttered quietly to himself. “They must have had the intent to kill you, how distasteful.”

“Blue ninja’s are good,” Shizuo argued. “Taste it.”

Izaya sighed. “Not that, you silly brute.”

“Oh,” Shizuo said smartly.

“Did the boss of this establishment offer you a drink?” Izaya asked, taking Shizuo’s hand in his own before leading him to a stool so the blond could sit. He couldn’t quite believe that there was someone out there daring enough to attempt to drug Shizuo, and for a moment he wondered what kind of man the owner of the shop was. As interesting as it would have been to speak with him, Izaya added him to his shit list because absolutely no one was allowed to mess with Shizuo. Not unless it was a man named Izaya Orihara. 

Shizuo was _his_.

“Yeah,” Shizuo said with a nod. “Said it was like… Like… A spirited hot mocha… like… like, I never tried one before and it looked pretty good so… like… yeah… it had this like… like… weird aftertaste though. It was gross. Nasty,” Shizuo rambled on, his gaze fixed on Izaya’s hand before he sandwiched it between his own bigger hands and smiled. “Hand sandwich.”

“Goodness,” Izaya said in an exasperated way, a small smile finally gracing his face. “What kind of drink is a spirited hot mocha?”

“Its got like… milk in it and junk. And chocolate. I think I can make you one,” Shizuo said and stood up before attempting to climb over the bar and in the process knocked down a few glasses that were littered around the counter top. “S’like, kinda hard t’make… No its easy,” he argued with himself. “It just takes a fucking long time to prepare like… can you wait for five hours?”

Izaya grabbed him by the back of his vest and tugged him back into his stool. “No, it’s okay Shizu-chan. I’ll just take that blue ninja of yours,” he said and reached for the blue colored drink and took a sip, and that was enough for Shizuo to sit back down.

It was unsettling. This meant that the bar owner knew that Tom and Shizuo were coming and he knew that Shizuo was fond of sweet drinks. He didn’t have any information on this boss and whether or not he was a drug pusher or the source of drugs, but it would only be a matter of days until Izaya could gather what he needed. 

“Here, Orihara-san,” the girl interrupted his thoughts, a flash drive in her outstretched hand.

“Perfect,” Izaya said with a smile as he accepted the device and stood up, grabbing Shizuo’s hand in his once more. “As for my business card, I’d really appreciate it if you could save my number and email right now and burn it. Though you should probably save my number under a different name, or invest in a burner phone. Keep the fact that you work for me now a secret, ne? And don’t tell anyone about what happened tonight,” he instructed, smiling as the girl nodded diligently. “Ah, what was your name again?”

“Amaya Fukushima,” she replied, bowing deeply.

“Well then, Amaya-chan,” he said, bowing slightly as well. “Thank you very much for taking care of Shizu-chan for me. Ah, and please send me whatever information you have on your boss!”

 

\- - - - 

“Sit,” Izaya instructed Shizuo.

Shizuo sat down on Izaya’s bed and his eyes widened a bit in awe. “It’s so soft…”

Izaya raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Shizuo’s hands went down to feel the bedsheets and he looked down at the fabrics as if they were made of gold. “It… It feels like water, but in solid form…”

Izaya snickered, his hand moving up to cover his mouth to stop himself from bursting into laughter. “You mean ice?”

“N..No!” Shizuo argued, his hands still smoothing over the sheets slowly. “It so smooth… And soft… It’s… wow…”

“Are you hungry, Shizu-chan?” Izaya asked, carefully undoing the button’s of Shizuo’s vest before helping the blond take it off. He hung it over the foot of his bed, watching with an amused smirk as Shizuo splayed himself on his bed and moved his arms and legs as if he were making a snow angel.

Shizuo nodded. “Yes. M’starving,” he replied before rolling around slowly.

The informant left the blond to his own devices for a few minutes to fetch him a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

“Cookies!” Shizuo exclaimed excitedly at the sight, bouncing off the bed like an excited child to accept the cookies and milk from Izaya. “It’s like you read my mind, this… this is exactly what I wanted!” he stated, stuffing a few cookies into his mouth before washing down the sweetness with milk.

Izaya laughed quietly, placing his arm around the small of Shizuo’s back to lead him back to the bed. They settled down under the sheets with Izaya counting the number of cookies Shizuo could stuff into his mouth.

After Shizuo had finished all the cookies he wrapped his arms around Izaya and pulled him into a hug, nuzzling the informant like he was a stuffed toy. “Love you,” he muttered quietly with a contented look on his face. “Love you, ‘Zaya. Love you so much.”

Izaya smiled, reciprocating the hug.

Whoever was pushing the drugs was going to pay. No one, absolutely no one, was allowed to do anything harmful to Shizuo.

Absolutely no one.

“I love you too, Shizu-chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that Shizuo is actually really good at mixing drinks. I mean, he was an actual bartender for a while.
> 
> This fic kind of strayed from its original plan. I don't know if that's good or not. I also know nothing about how drugs are circulated around. All I know is that the Awakusu-kai doesn't condone drug usage, especially Akabayashi-san.
> 
> Is this fic going to get plot heavy? 
> 
> No. 
> 
> I can't do plot heavy fics.


	14. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy

Shizuo liked flowers.

They were pretty, colorful and smelled nice. He had a weak spot for sunflowers in particular because for some odd reason they always made him smile. He supposed it was the concept of them, how sunflowers supposedly follow the sun; he thought that if the flowers had their own consciousness they’d be optimistic and happy. The flower’s radiance and simply beauty made him happy.

So when he stepped into the office after another day of work, he blinked his eyes in surprise before turing his attention to his and Tom’s boss. “Mister Manager? What’s with all the flowers?” He asked, looking at the many flowers that littered their boss’ desk, smiling slightly at the sight of sunflowers amongst the other flowers. The room was practically overflowing with the sweet smell, only adding to Shizuo’s now good mood.

Tom inspected the flowers as well, sneezing a little bit as the smell was a little bit too sweet for him. He gave Mister Manager a teasing smile, inspecting one of the cards that went along with the flowers but found it empty. “A secret admirer, Boss?” he asked. “Didn’t think you were popular with the ladies.”

“They’re from his boyfriend,” Mister Manager grunted, jerking his chin towards Shizuo’s direction.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Shizuo grunted in reply quickly, a bundle of sunflowers in his arms. They were so pretty and nice and he wondered briefly if he had enough vases to accommodate the flowers. Though transporting them would be rather tedious, but he thought he could call Celty for help. Maybe he could give some to her, and maybe give some to Kasuka too.

Mister Manager just shook his head. “You kids these days,” he said in a rather old sounding way. “Dancing around like a bunch of ducks whenever it comes to romance.”

“You can take some home if you want,” Shizuo told Vorona who seemed pretty interested in looking at a few of the daffodils that were bunched up with some daisies. He thought they’d suit her.

“Are you positive?” she asked him, picking up the bouquet before holding them up to sniff at them. “They were intended for you from The Insect.” She was no master of romance and she was still studying different kids of romance movies and mangas and animes with the otaku duo and the Orihara twins but she knew for a fact that flowers were definitely a form of romance… Unless Izaya was sending flowers to imply he was sending Shizuo to the grave.

The blond man was oblivious to her paranoid thoughts and nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I can take all of these. Ah, you too, Tom-san.”

Vorona had offered to help him with the flowers. So the two blonds walked around Ikebukuro, offering flowers to their friends. Kadota and his gang got a bunch of assorted lilies, the Orihara twins got the violets, Simon and Dennis got the tulips, and Celty and Shinra got the roses.

They were sitting at the park now, enjoying the nighttime breeze. The twins had tagged along in hopes of coming across their older brother, but found that it was fun making flower crowns for the two blonds who sported them rather well. Kururi and Mairu made flower crowns for themselves that compromised of the violet and white violets that Shizuo had given them. Then they busied themselves by combining the daisies and the daffodils to create a flower crown for Vorona while they combined the daisies, violets and a single sunflower for Shizuo’s.

 

 

From a café nearby, Izaya and Namie watched the scene unfold before them.

Namie watched Izaya intently as the informant kept his gaze locked on Shizuo’s now flowered head, a small smile dancing on his lips as he idly stirred the coffee that was in front of him. It was not a smile that Namie was familiar with, at least not on his face, but she knew that it was genuine. She knew that Izaya Orihara was stupidly in love with Shizuo Heiwajima. And though her heart churned with the odd feeling of jealousy at the fact that Izaya was happy with his romantic life, an even odder feeling of warm happiness washed over her cold heart at the sight of Izaya’s smile.

Maybe, to some extent, Namie was glad that Izaya was happy.

But only because he was less annoying that way, of course.

“You should take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she said once she was able to crush the odd feeling down and kept her usual neutral face on. “Though it’s kind of creepy that you’re just watching him instead of actually going up to him. Are you a stalker?” She added, feeling better because she was insulting him now.

“I’m no stalker!” Izaya replied to her loudly with a laugh in his voice. “But… I suppose a picture wouldn’t hurt, would it?” he asked, his hand already reaching into his pocket for his phone, raising it towards Shizuo’s direction before snapping a few photos.

Namie pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. “Come now, are you really doing this?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee to calm herself down. And to spite Izaya, she added two packets of sugar to his coffee while he was distracted. “Just go up to him, I don’t know what you’re playing all coy for.”

Izaya squirmed slightly in his seat before he plunked his head down on their shared table, a small blush steadily smoothing over his face. “He’s rather adorable, isn’t he?” he asked, his voice composed even though he felt like his face was on fire. How could a beast be so tame and relaxed like that? It wasn’t fair that Shizuo was absolutely wrecking him simply by sitting there with flowers in his hair.

“You’re in love,” Namie stated bluntly as she rested her cheek on her palm, lazily looking out the window to watch the twins scurry around the two blonds excitedly. “It’s almost kind of funny.”

“Oh shut up, Namie,” Izaya huffed, finally sitting up. He took a sip of his coffee and immediately spat it out all over Namie in shock. It was too sweet and disgusting—“Oops,” he said simply, looking over at his secretary who was now drenched in coffee and some of his saliva. He laughed.

 

 

Shizuo perked up the moment he spotted Izaya.

The informant was walking side by side by a woman who was wearing his coat and an odd feeling welled up in Shizuo’s chest. Who was she?

“Hey there, Shizu-chan!” Izaya greeted with a smile. “So I see that you’ve gotten my flowers,” he stated, leaning over to brush their noses together in the way that he always did.

The feeling of jealousy immediately died down at the contact and he nodded. “Yeah,” he replied, holding the sunflowers up. “How’d you know I liked these the best?”

Izaya tilted his head and hummed teasingly. “Oh, I guessed,” he said with a lilt in his voice. “It seemed like something you’d like!”

Mairu and Kururi jumped to their brother’s side, hugging his arms to their chests as per usual. “Why’d you send him flowers but not us?!” Mairu demanded, tugging on his sleeve like an impatient child. “We want flowers too, you know!”

“Maybe next time,” Izaya said absently, smiling brightly when Vorona stood up to give him room on the bench. “Cпасибо,” (Thank you) he told her and sat down next to Shizuo.

Shizuo bent down to yet again brush his nose against Izaya’s. He found it really heartwarming whenever he did that and he absolutely intended to do it whenever he was given the chance to. He grinned lopsidedly and bumped their foreheads together gently, his fingers slowly inching towards Izaya’s. “Thank you,” he said, and then glanced down to the bouquet of flowers in his free hand. “They’re beautiful.”

The informant placed a hand on Shizuo’s chest, feeling the thumping of his heart pick up pace. Shizuo was so easy to make nervous, but Izaya wasn’t really in a position to tease him about that but he did anyway. “Ahaha! You’re heart’s beating so fast,” he said with a grin, pulling his hand back and pressed his eat against Shizuo’s chest instead. “You’re too cute, Shizu-chan.”

Vorona took Mairu and Kururi by the backs of their shirts, pulling them away from the two love birds that seemed too preoccupied with getting lost in each others eyes to notice that some people were actually starting to stare and point. “We must leave them to privacy,” she stated, and was slightly surprised at the fact that Namie was following right behind them.

“How come?” (Why are you wearing nii-san’s coat?) Kururi asked Namie softly, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

“He spat coffee all over me.”

As the new group of women walked away from the loving couple, a pair of heads popped from behind their hiding place as they inspected the scene. Karisawa sighed happily at the sight of Izaya and Shizuo speaking softly to each other, taking out her high definition camera to take several pictures. Yumasaki, on the other hand, was talking to himself in a rather exaggerated way, taking pictures of the group of women walking away.

“Karisawa,” he chirped happily, nudging Erika as he smiled. “I have a new OTP,” he told her, snapping a picture the moment Vorona and Namie stood side by side, neither of them talking to each other as the twins did most of the talking instead. “Do you think it will sail?”

Karisawa looked away from her own OTP for a moment to glance where Yumasaki was walking. With a dreamy sigh she nodded. “If my OTP became canon, I’m sure yours will too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter! Oops.
> 
> The song "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" then this chapter was born. So now go imagine Izaya singing this around Shizuo and Shizuo's confused because its in english and he doesn't understand it.
> 
> PS: If anyone was wondering why I spell Vorona's name like that instead of Varona, its because in the light novel translation (the one by anni-fiesta) it is spelled Vorona and it stuck with me.


	15. Joy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After such a long time with no updates, suddenly smut!

It’s a whole new feeling in a spectrum he was vaguely familiar with, something that he couldn’t quite describe, couldn’t quite put into words, but it’s a feeling that he didn’t perceive to be real or at least tangible in one lifetime alone.

Bliss? Could this be bliss? It’s the only word that comes to mind, repeating itself like a mantra in both his mind, and body, and soul; he can feel his grip on coherency faltering with each moment, can feel himself getting lost in the sea of emotions that stir up inside him like a storm and for once he lets himself let go, lets himself give in to the carnal desires of the flesh.

Bliss, bliss, bliss! Ecstasy? C’est magnifique! Never would he have thought that he’d find the utmost joy in bringing someone else happiness. Never would he have believed in a thousand years that he would experience such sheer happiness without it being at the expense of someone else’s misery or downfall.

He still finds it incredibly hard to believe that Shizuo Heiwajima has effortlessly made him the happiest man alive by simply existing.

Shizuo’s skin is hot against his, hotter than it should be and it sends a shudder down his spine. It doesn’t make sense (or at least in his current state of mind it’s difficult for him to hold to logic), he’s had sex before with many different partners ranging from absolute virgins to those who don’t even remember what life was like alone on bed. Shizuo is far from experienced, so why is it that this is the best that he’s ever felt?

Shizuo is tense beneath him, face flushed and scrunched up in flustered confusion and it makes Izaya’s heart palpitate wildly in his chest. But no, this won’t do. He can’t be the only one enjoying this, that would be too unfair.

He bends down, his hips pressed and moving against Shizuo’s, and places a chaste kiss against his eyelids and against the heat at the peak of his cheekbones. He’s more than generous with his kisses, making sure that every inch of Shizuo’s face is painted with his affections. “Relax,” he murmurs against Shizuo’s lips. “It’s just you and me, dear. Bare yourself to me, let me see you,” he coos softly. 

Shizuo’s hands grip the sheets underneath him, his legs parted and bent at the knees with Izaya settled in between them like he belongs there. Up until this point he’s always assumed that he lacked the sex drive of a normal person but he didn’t mind that in the least bit. It made things less complicated for him, gave him one less thing to think about than most people, but now all he can feel is heat, heat, heat and a weird coiling feeling at the pit of his stomach.

Izaya’s still moving against him, brushing against nerves and spots he didn’t know could make him feel like his whole body was on fire. He’s finding it hard to catch his breath with each touch that Izaya provides, and for a moment it almost feels like he’s suffocating, like the air is escaping his lungs with each thrust of Izaya’s hips pushing against him. 

He’s embarrassed, painfully so, because he knows that it must be so fucking obvious that he’s never done anything like this before. He almost misses Izaya’s mocking laughter from when they used to hate each other because at least then he knew, even if it was just a vague gut instinct, what Izaya was feeling. Right now he was blind, and figuring Izaya out has always been the greatest mystery in his world.

“Ngh—A-ah! Izaya..! he gasps out, his back arching off the bed as he feels like electricity was running through his veins and shocking him in painfully pleasurable way that makes his vision go white for a fleeting moment. The additional feeling of the friction of his heat against the taut muscle of Izaya’s slender stomach was making his head spin and for a blindingly hot moment he forgets his anxieties and maybe even his name.

Shizuo is still tense, muscles wound up so tight it almost feels like he’s petrified.

Izaya’s movements falter.

Is he doing something wrong? Does Shizuo not want this? Was he hurting him? Did he misinterpret this whole situation? Perhaps they should have been more direct about this. Shizuo was never really keen on reading in between the lines. But if he didn’t want this, wouldn’t he have said so? Shizuo’s brutal honesty was the backbone of their relationship, something that he has begun to get used to and something that he valued more than most things nowadays. “Are you alright?” Izaya asks breathlessly, one hand moving to Shizuo’s face to brush back the blond locks clinging to his forehead with sweat.

Shizuo barely registers the words; it’s mostly Izaya’s voice that snaps him out of his pleasure induced daze. And when he opens his eyes (he doesn’t even remember closing them at all), he catches the concerned gaze that Izaya is giving him. It’s a look so foreign but sincere on the informant’s face and it makes his heart flutter with the overwhelming feeling of being loved, something he never thought he’d have the luxury to experience. He feels like there are butterflies in his stomach, fighting their way out to escape through his throat.

He gulps down the butterflies and his voice feels rough and forced. “Y-yeah,” he chokes out and tries to give Izaya a smile, to reassure him (and maybe even himself) that he was fine and that he wants this just as much as Izaya does. “D-don’t stop,” he urges softly, finally releasing his iron grip on the sheets to hold Izaya’s fce in his hands as gently as he can possibly manage. He leans up to press a kiss to Izaya’s lips, and then another, and another, and another until he can’t remember how many kisses he’s given.

Izaya purrs softly at that, his eyes fluttering closed as Shizuo continued to shower him in kisses that made his heart swell. He takes Shizuo’s writs in his hand, pulling it away and pushing himself forward, pushing Shizuo back down and against the mattress, his lips parting against Shizuo’s. He catches the the former bartender’s bottom lip in between his teeth, tugging at it slowly in an attempt to get his boyfriend to open up for him.

Shizuo groans softly, giving into Izaya’s wordless request. He parts his lips, feels the hot wet muscle of Izaya’s tongue brushing against his and swiping at the back of his teeth, and moans against the kiss as he feels Izaya begin to pick up the pace. His arms snake up the informant’s back, fingers slipping and curling around the hair at the nape of Izaya’s neck and he tugs gently before pulling him closer as if that would somehow deepen their kiss.

A shiver runs up and down Izaya’s spine, pulling back from the kiss to gasp for breath, to watch as Shizuo tilts his head back. He bares his neck to him and Izaya can’t help but watch Shizuo’s adam’s apple bob with each gulp and each intake of air, can’t help but sink his teeth into the skin that he so greedily wants to mark for his own.

Either Shizuo doesn’t feel the sharp pain of teeth piercing his skin or he’s so lost in the feeling of pain mixing with pleasure that he can barely tell them apart anymore. He chants Izaya’s name, feeling closer and closer and closer to his climax.

His. 

Shizuo is _his._

Shizuo _belongs to him_ and no one but him.

Izaya relishes the feeling of Shizuo squeezing down on him, the feel of Shizuo’s hands holding onto him like he was the last lifeline out at sea, relishes the way Shizuo writhes all nice and pretty just for him. And when Shizuo chokes out his name as he spills himself, as his pleasure reaches its peak, Izaya groans. 

Shizuo is just so fucking pretty when his face is scrunched up in ecstasy.

Even though Shizuo’s grip on his hair is tight, that maybe he might have a bald spot on the back of his head by the end of this, he can’t stop himself from thrusting his hips harder and faster, can’t stop himself from wanting to force out more pretty noises from Shizuo’s lips, he can’t stop himself from losing himself to the feeling of release.

They’re both panting by the end of it, Izaya planting a chaste kiss against Shizuo’s sweaty forehead before he collapses on top of him. Izaya lets out a breathless chuckle as he feels Shizuo’s heart race against his ribcage. He closes his eyes and continues to laugh, losing more breath than recovering.

The blond lets out a tired little chuckle and before he knows it he’s laughing too though he isn’t too sure why he is. His arms wrap around Izaya’s waist, keeps him tethered to him in a loving embrace as he noses against the crown of Izaya’s head.

And they’re both chuckling softly, laughing at some unspoken joke that no one but them will understand.

“Hey,” Izaya mutters softly after they both finally settled down, lifting his head to look at Shizuo’s contented face. “That kind of got me a little bit hungry. What do you say we go get some ramen or something?”

Shizuo stares at him incredulously, eyebrows raised in silent question before the rumble of his belly agrees with Izaya’s idea. He scoffs, a fond little smile playing at his lips. “Yeah... Yeah, I could go for some ramen right about now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still no good at writing smut. Oh well, practice makes perfect.


End file.
